Palestinian-born mosque leader can be deported from US on foreign policy grounds, judge rules
An immigration judge has cleared the way for the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights, to be deported on the grounds that he is a threat to national security.
Salah Sarsour was detained in Milwaukee in March by ICE officers. A federal judge ordered Sarsour’s release in June, saying he raised a “substantial” claim that the Trump administration was targeting him for speaking out against Israel and advocating for Palestinian rights.
Sarsour said in a statement on Wednesday that the immigration judge’s ruling was “deeply disappointing,” but that he intends 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,” Sarsour said.
The government says Sarsour’s decades-old terrorism convictions in Israel make him a threat to national security in the U.S. and accuse him of lying about it on his green card application. Immigration Judge Jayme Salinardi agreed but tossed out the claim that Sarsour lied on his green card application.
Sarsour, who was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after confessing to throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at Israeli military personnel. In 1995, he was convicted of attempting to hold weapons and ammunition. Sarsour denies committing those crimes. His attorneys say he was tortured and coerced into confessing in both instances.
Sarsour does not have a criminal record in the U.S., where he has lived since 1993. His attorneys say the U.S. government has known about Sarsour’s convictions in Israel since he arrived. He is president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
Deportation to the West Bank, “means the end of my life,” Sarsour told The Associated Press in a Tuesday interview. One of his attorneys, Patrick Taurel, told the AP that Sarsour’s earlier treatment by Israeli authorities is “probably a good indicator of what awaits him” if he is deported.
At a status hearing Wednesday, Taurel pressed the judge to specify that Sarsour can only be deported to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Jordan, a country with which Sarsour has no connection, is listed as a possible destination on the deportation order.
Sarsour was instructed by immigration officers to list Jordan as his home country on an immigration form because his preferred entry — “Palestine” — is not a fully independent, unified state. But he “has no right to reside in Jordan,” attorney Patrick Taurel said.
Salinardi refused.
“That issue is preserved on appeal,” he said.
Taurel said on Wednesday that Sarsour is being unfairly targeted.
“If Salah can be deported for his speech in support of Palestinian rights, anyone can face the same fate,” Taurel said.
