GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Muslim woman filed a federal lawsuit against the Kent County Sheriff’s Office claiming she was forced to remove her hijab during booking and processing.
A hijab is a religious head covering that some Muslim women wear to cover everything but their face whenever they are in the presence of men who aren’t their husband, or outside of their family.
Jannah Hague says she and her husband were arrested in April 2023 after a domestic violence incident.
They were processed, detained and eventually released without charges.
Hague alleges her civil rights were violated when she was forced to remove her hijab to take a booking photo, according to court documents.
Her attorney says Hague’s booking photo was posted to the sheriff’s office’s public-facing website, which created a public record of Hague not wearing her hijab.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan Chapter (CAIR-MI), a nonprofit group that advocates for Muslim people’s civil rights, is representing Hague.
CAIR-MI says Hague has been traumatized, embarrassed and humiliated.
“To remove the hijab is, like, it’s a defilement of your belief system, and be like taking a topless photo of a woman and then having that released on the internet without her permission. It’s akin to that because you are in a state of undress. It’s intended for modesty. It’s intended to hide your beauty, your hair, your ears, and all of those things now become exposed to the general public without your consent and without your permission, so it’s a religious defilement,” Amy Doukoure, CAIR-MI staff attorney, explained.
Doukoure says they tried for about ten months to resolve this issue with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
After failing to do so, they decided to bring forward this lawsuit.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to FOX 17 regarding the matter:
“Our female corrections officer took her out of view of all male officers and inmates and asked her to remove the head covering to inspect it for weapons or other restricted material, and then she was allowed to put it back on before entering the booking area.
“It is required by law to take a photograph of the arrestee. When this photograph was taken, our female corrections officer ensured that no male officers or inmates were able to view Ms. Hague without the head covering. There is a video and audio recording of this booking process in its entirety.”
FOX 17 asked Doukoure about the sheriff’s office’s statement.
“If they told you that, they’re not telling you the truth,” she answered. “They have the video. We’ve seen the video. Two male officers remained in the room with her. They turn their backs. You can see them on camera and my client could see them.”
Doukoure added that her client hopes a judge will see that state law and federal law are already clear— blocking the sheriff’s office from forcing women to remove their hijabs during booking and processing.
CAIR-MI also wants the court to make a “firm declaration” that it is a woman’s constitutional right to wear a hijab during that process.
Additionally, they are seeking monetary damages stemming from “gross civil rights violations” that Hague endured.
