DEARBORN, Mich. — One of the men who was videotaped assaulting an anti-Muslim activist during an Aug. 2 religious celebration is a convicted murderer and a "criminal alien from Iraq" who is in federal custody awaiting a deportation hearing, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday.

The incident happened during Dearborn's 23rd annual Arbaeen celebration, which emulates the annual pilgrimage of Shia Muslims to the Karbala, Iraq, shrine of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who was killed in a 680 AD battle.

Jake Lang, a former U.S. Senate candidate from Florida who said his first act if elected would be to "ban Islam," was videotaped standing on the curb off Greenfield Road during the march, shouting into his bullhorn: "We support ICE. We do not want these illegal immigrants here. ... I speak the name of Jesus."

According to one video, a man walked up to Lang and punched him from behind. A group of men then chased Lang through a lot, some pummeling him with stones, before police officers pushed him into a cruiser and told the crowd to disperse, according to the videos.

Dearborn Police have arrested three people in connection with the beating: two 25-year-old men, one from Detroit, the other from Dearborn; and 57-year-old Dearborn resident Abbas Abdoush, 57, who is "a criminal illegal alien from Iraq," according to ICE officials.

Abdoush was charged in Dearborn's 19th District Court Aug. 5 with assault and battery and malicious destruction of property, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 21. Abdoush did not have an attorney listed in online 19th District Court documents.

But after 19th District Court Judge Eugene Hunt released the defendant on a tether, federal agents picked him up, Dearborn Police Cpl. Dan Bartok said Wednesday.

Following Abdoush's arrest by Homeland Security Investigations agents, he was transferred to the custody of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.

"He remains in ICE custody at North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan," a Wednesday ICE statement said. "He will receive full due process.”

Who is ICE detainee Abbas Abdoush?

In 1992, Abdoush was admitted into the United States as a lawful permanent resident after emigrating from Iraq, making him a non-U.S. citizen with legal permission to live and work here, according to ICE. But Abdoush violated that status when he was convicted in 1999 for second-degree murder, the federal agency said.

"Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations arrested Abbas Abdoush, a criminal illegal alien from Iraq, August 5, following his release from local custody in Dearborn, Michigan on assault charges," the ICE statement said. "Abdoush was legally admitted to United States in 1992 and eventually became an LPR. He later violated the terms of that legal admission following a 1999 conviction for murder. He was ultimately ordered removed in June 2022. An appeal is pending before the (Board of Immigration Appeals)."

According to a 2005 Michigan Court of Appeals filing, on Jan. 25, 1998, Abdoush intentionally hit a woman with a borrowed van in southwest Detroit. The victim later died.

"Two witnesses observed the victim standing on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, talking to someone in a van," said the appellate court, which denied Abdoush's appeal that claimed he'd been denied a fair trial. "As the victim walked away from the van, the driver attempted to hit her. The van continued on Michigan Avenue, made a U-turn, came back toward the victim at a high rate of speed, hit the victim, ran over her, and continued driving."

Abdoush was convicted, sentenced to 15-25 years in prison and was paroled in 2014.

The Dearborn Police Department, which has a policy not to cooperate with federal immigration agencies, was not involved with Abdoush's arrest, Bartok said.

"He was released from our system, and we had no knowledge he was going to be arrested," Bartok said, adding that federal agents likely tracked Abdoush down through his GPS tether.

A history of Jake Lang's run-ins in Dearborn

Lang has had run-ins in Dearborn previously, including an incident last year in which competing groups of protesters clashed. Following the incident, Lang said he'd filed a federal lawsuit against the city, mayor and police chief, claiming they'd failed to protect him. But no record of the lawsuit could be found on PACER, the U.S. District Court database.

He was a participant in the 2021 Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack, for which he served four years in prison. Lang and others charged in the incident were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second presidency in 2025.

Following the pardon, Lang, who hoped to be a Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate special election in Florida but didn't make the ballot, has had multiple run-ins with the law. He was accused of threatening a Capitol Police officer during a March event commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot.

In an incident in Minneapolis in July, he was charged with defacing an anti-ICE sculpture in front of the Minnesota State Capitol.

Lang also was arrested in Dallas County, Texas, in June for making a terrorist threat. His bond was set at $1 million, and later reduced to $250,000.

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