US Court Clears Deportation of Wisconsin Mosque Leader in Security Case
CHICAGO: An immigration judge ruled Wednesday that the US can deport Salah Sarsour, the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque and an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, on national security grounds.
Sarsour was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Milwaukee in March. A federal judge ordered his release in June, saying he raised a substantial claim that the Trump administration was targeting him for speaking out against Israel. Sarsour called the latest ruling “deeply disappointing” and said he plans to appeal. “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,” he said in a statement.
Government attorneys argue that Sarsour’s decades-old convictions in Israel make him a security threat. They also accused him of lying on his green card application and falsely claiming citizenship to vote. Judge Jayme Salinardi of the Chicago Immigration Court found him removable on foreign policy grounds but threw out the claim that he lied to immigration authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security said all people facing removal receive due process and that anyone a judge finds has no right to be in the country will be removed.
Sarsour, who was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after being convicted of throwing stones at Israeli military personnel. In 1995, he was convicted of attempting to possess weapons. DHS says he was also convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail, but his defense team says he was only accused of that. Sarsour denies the crimes, and his attorneys say he was tortured and coerced into confessing. He has no criminal record in the US, where he has lived since 1993.
His attorney, Patrick Taurel, asked the judge to limit deportation to Israel or the Palestinian territories, since the removal order also lists Jordan, a country Sarsour has no connection to. Taurel said that if sent there, Sarsour would be immediately handed to Israel. The judge declined, saying the issue can be raised on appeal.
The case rests partly on a June 2025 memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who invoked a rarely used immigration provision, the same one used against Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi. Taurel said the judge treated the memo as sufficient evidence and gave “extreme deference” to Rubio and to Israel, which has collaborated with DHS on the case.
A notice of appeal is due within 30 days, and Sarsour has 60 days to apply for relief. He cannot be deported until all legal options are exhausted. Salinardi announced he is retiring, and Judge Craig Defoe will take over the case.
Sarsour’s lawyers have also raised concerns about his health. He has Type 2 diabetes and lost more than 30 pounds while in ICE custody, with his blood sugar checked only once a month, they said. The Trump administration has appealed the June ruling ordering his release.
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