Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly takes on Sharron Angle's comments that Sharia exists in Dearborn

DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) - Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly fired off a letter to Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, saying she is "misled" about the city and invited her to visit.

O'Reilly sent the letter late Monday.

It was triggered by comments made the controversial Republican candidate, who is challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. During a recent speech she said that Islamic religious law, or Sharia, has taken hold in Dearborn and that a "militant terrorist situation" exists in parts of the United States.

Angle's comments about Dearborn have been reported as: "Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas are on American soil and under constitutional law, not Sharia law and I don't know how that happened in the United States. It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States."

O'Reilly appeared Monday night on CNN to defend Dearborn.

Today he gave Action News a copy of the letter he sent to Angle.

"This is the most absurd, inane answer I've ever heard. And she was led by the questioner, but should have been mature enough to say I don't think that's happening," said O'Reilly.

O'Reilly said the last census revealed that only thirty percent of the population in Dearborn is Arab American.

"Nobody is trying to control Dearborn. Muslims have been in Dearborn, there has been a mosque in Dearborn for 90 years. So the notion that there's this new phenomenon and Muslims are taking over America is certainly not substantiated in this community," said O'Reilly.

O'Reilly said he has not heard from Angle yet.