Immigration Judge Orders Deportation of Wisconsin Palestinian Leader Salah Sarsour

A U.S. immigration judge in Chicago ruled Wednesday that Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a Palestinian community leader, can be deported. The Trump administration argues he poses a threat to national security based on decades-old convictions in Israel.

Sarsour was detained by ICE in March and held for 81 days before a federal judge ordered his release in June. That judge found Sarsour raised a substantial claim he was targeted for advocating Palestinian rights. His legal team says the convictions stemmed from coerced confessions under torture.

“I will continue fighting to defend the right to free speech and to stay in the country I have called home for more than three decades.”

Judge Jayme Salinardi found Sarsour removable on foreign policy grounds but rejected the government's claim he lied on immigration forms or falsely claimed citizenship to vote. Sarsour has lived in the U.S. since 1993 with no criminal record here.

His attorneys plan to appeal the ruling. Sarsour says he will continue fighting to defend free speech and remain in the country he has called home for over three decades. He fears his life would be at risk if deported to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.