Dearborn Protest Double Standard: Jim Pfaff on America’s Voice Live | Aug 17, 2026
Published: August 17, 2026
Network: Real America’s Voice
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff
Ahead of a planned Dearborn protest at the city council’s Tuesday, August 18th meeting, Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shaheen went before the cameras with a direct ask of his residents: “Please stay home.” On the August 17 edition of America’s Voice Live on Real America’s Voice, Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff told host Steve why that plea troubles him. Officials issued no such warnings before the No Kings protests in Dearborn, the 2020 George Floyd riots, or the sometimes-violent protests of 2025 — yet this demonstration is being expressly discouraged by the government. Pfaff’s answer runs straight to the First Amendment: peaceable assembly and the redress of grievances are fundamental to American freedom, and no city official should be urging people not to exercise them.
Topics Covered
- “Please Stay Home”: The Chief’s Plea in Dearborn
- The Double Standard on Protest Warnings
- Peaceable Assembly Is Right There in the Constitution
- Free to Practice, Not Free to Impose
- Key Takeaways
“Please Stay Home”: The Chief’s Plea in Dearborn
The setup is unusual. With large crowds expected for an anti-Islam demonstration, the Dearborn city council moved its meeting to the Henry Ford Centennial Library, police prepared an enhanced presence, and the department said it was coordinating with state and federal partners. Then Chief Issa Shaheen addressed residents directly: “These groups that are coming here are coming for one reason, and that’s to provoke a reaction and generate attention. If nobody shows up to react, they have nothing.” His bottom line — “The most powerful thing that this community can do is refuse to give them an audience” — came paired with an assurance that anyone with business before the council would be kept safe.
Steve noted the history: for years after the Sturgis Biker Rally there were rumors the bikers would ride to Dearborn, and only a few ever showed. This time feels different to him — he expects they might come in large numbers. And he made clear what he plans to do about it:
“I’m not going to come down to create a confrontation, but I’m going to go down and take a look. I think it’s an important thing to find out.”
— Steve, America’s Voice Live
The Double Standard on Protest Warnings
Pfaff’s first reaction was a comparison. He doesn’t remember any announcement like this one before the No Kings protests came to Dearborn — a contrast he called “maybe a slip there of what they’re thinking.” Then he widened the frame:
“why in the world do we have this double standard where leftist protests that often become violent are never cautioned against?”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
His examples came from the transcript of recent history: no stay-home pleas in 2020 for the George Floyd riots, none during the 2025 protests around the country — some of them violent — and never any official concern on that end. But when someone shows up to say there is an emerging Islam problem, opposing an ideology Pfaff calls clearly not constitutional and a threat similar to what is happening in Europe, the caution machinery switches on.
“this is free demonstration. It should be allowed to happen. We’ve had many of them that seem scary to someone that we always allow happen. This one does not need to be expressly targeted.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
Why Dearborn Officials Are Doing This, in Pfaff’s Reading
Pfaff’s explanation is local politics, not public safety: “Dearborn, Michigan officials are just afraid because there’s a decent Islamic population there that are their constituents and they wanna make ’em feel better.” He doesn’t fault them for caring about constituents — “But again, I don’t think they should be doing it in this manner at all.”
Peaceable Assembly Is Right There in the Constitution
When Steve pressed — so you’re not impressed with the chief of police saying don’t come here, stay away? — Pfaff answered with the document itself, which he had in front of him on set. People who want to say they disagree with what’s happening in Dearborn, with what he called this pursuit of the transformation of Dearborn and beyond, have the complete right to say it:
“Peaceably assemble is part of the United States Constitution. It’s right here in front of me. It’s fundamental to American freedom to be able to provide a redress of grievances, as the language there says, against the government.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
The objection is not to police preparing for a crowd. It is to the government putting its thumb on the scale against participation in a lawful demonstration:
“This is an issue that we’re dealing with in this country right now, and it should be allowed to proceed without any effort on the part of the government to encourage people not to participate.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
Free to Practice, Not Free to Impose
Pfaff then laid out the distinction that anchors his whole position. There are efforts among people seeking elected office — and some who hold it — to undermine the Constitution with what he unreservedly called alien ideas of government inconsistent with American liberty, a dynamic we have covered in Michigan’s own Senate race with Abdul El-Sayed. The Constitution forms the structure of American liberty and the Declaration of Independence lays out the dogma behind it — and in Pfaff’s judgment, Sharia law does not align with either. People are free to believe what they want, even to practice Islam as they want. The line comes at imposition:
“They’re not free to impose those ideas on this country when they don’t align well with the liberties we already have well established.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
As for the protest itself, Pfaff was candid about the limits of what he knows — Jake Lang, he guesses, is the organizer, and he doesn’t know all the motivations of everyone who wants to take part. What he does know is narrower and, to him, decisive:
“what I do know is the motivation to say that Islam is not consistent with Western liberty is something that needs to be publicly discussed. And if it were to ever come close to getting a hold on our systems of government, then it should be strongly protested.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
His advice to the demonstrators: move forward, keep doing this. Steve closed the segment planning his own trip down to Dearborn the next day — not to confront anyone, just to document what happens.
Key Takeaways
- A stay-home plea from the chief – Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shaheen asked residents to stay away from the August 18th council meeting, saying protesters want a reaction and refusing them an audience is the community’s most powerful move. The council relocated its meeting to the Henry Ford Centennial Library.
- The double standard – Pfaff recalls no similar announcement before No Kings protests in Dearborn, the 2020 George Floyd riots, or violent 2025 protests. Leftist protests that often become violent are never cautioned against.
- Peaceable assembly is the standard – The demonstration is a free demonstration that should be allowed to happen, without government efforts to encourage people not to participate. The right to assemble and seek redress of grievances is in the Constitution.
- Believe freely, impose nothing – People are free to practice Islam as they want, but not to impose ideas on the country that don’t align with established American liberties. Sharia law, Pfaff argues, does not align with the Constitution.
- Pfaff’s read on the officials – Dearborn officials are afraid because a decent Islamic population makes up their constituency, and they want to make them feel better — but this is the wrong way to do it.
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Originally broadcast Aug 17, 2026 on Real America’s Voice.
Peter J. Thomas is a veteran conservative political strategist and seasoned policy expert dedicated to upholding the principles of the Constitution and democracy. As a founder and the chairman of the Conservative Caucus, he has played a pivotal role in promoting and shaping the conservative agenda across the nation for over half a century.