Immigration judge rules US can deport president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque

Chicago Immigration Court Judge Jayme Salinardi sided with the government’s claim that the mosque leader posed a security threat.

WASHINGTON – A US immigration judge ruled the US government can deport Palestinian-American Salah Sarsour, who is the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque and a US permanent resident, under a Cold War-era law.

Sarsour, who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in late March and released in mid-June after a federal judge said he had raised a substantial free speech retaliation claim that would render his detention unlawful.

Chicago Immigration Court Judge Jayme Salinardi sided late on Sept 29 with the government’s argument that Sarsour posed a security and foreign policy threat under the Cold War-era Immigration and Nationality Act, while rejecting the government’s allegation that he lied on his green card application.

Sarsour’s legal team said on Sept 30 they will appeal the ruling.

Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest mosque, says Sarsour has lived in the US for over three decades.

The mosque has said Sarsour was “being targeted on the basis of his Palestinian and Muslim background, and his advocacy for Palestinian rights”.

He has type 2 diabetes and lost more than 13kg in ICE detention, his legal team said.

Sarsour has no criminal record in the US and was convicted as a teenager in an Israeli military court before he came to the United States, which the Trump administration noted to cast him as a threat. Sarsour says the government has known that information for decades.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem says military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried for alleged crimes, have a 96% conviction rate and a history of extracting confessions through torture.

US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has cracked down on pro-Palestinian voices, says Sarsour was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces.

Sarsour denies committing such crimes and says he was tortured and coerced into past confessions. REUTERS