(DEARBORN, MI) — The Detroit suburb of Dearborn, with a population of 96,000 people, has more residents on the federal government’s terrorist watch list than any city in the United States other than New York, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Intercept, an online news site that investigates national security issues, reported Dearborn’s standing based on leaked intelligence documents. The Associated Press reported on the same documents last week, but did not include the Dearborn information.
The Intercept reports Dearborn’s large Muslim population likely accounts for the city’s high number of residents on the terrorist watch list. The Top 5 cities on the list, according to the leaked documents, include:
1. New York City
2. Dearborn
3. Houston
4. San Diego
5. Chicago
“Given that there has not been a Dearborn resident who has ever committed an act of terrorism in the homeland, nor any significant pattern of residents being involved in international terrorism, we have serious concerns that federal law enforcement views Dearborn as a suspect community primarily based on its Arab and Muslim demographics,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
“Such a disparity suggests that the Arab-American community has been disproportionality and unfairly targeted for inclusion on terrorist watch lists,” the Arab Civil Rights League said in a statement.
Local Arab American leaders are now calling for a Congressional investigation into the reports.