An immigration judge has ruled that the federal government may remove Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, finding him removable on foreign policy grounds and rejecting the government's contention that he lied on his green card application.
Judge Jayme Salinardi of the Chicago Immigration Court reached the removability determination on a 2025 decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Sarsour's presence in the United States would involve potentially serious adverse foreign policy implications. That gives the secretary the power to designate a noncitizen as removable without a conviction for a crime.
Salinardi dismissed the government's contention that Sarsour willfully failed to disclose his history on his application for permanent residence, saying she will reconsider the matter on appeal. She said she is retiring and Judge Craig Defoe will take over the case. Sarsour's lawyers have 30 days to appeal the decision.
Sarsour, 53, was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has lived in the United States since 1993 as a permanent resident. He has no criminal history in this country and has been president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the largest Islamic organization in Wisconsin, for five years.
The Department of Homeland Security has emphasized Sarsour's convictions as a teenager by an Israeli military court for, the government said, material support of extremists and it has alleged that he suspects him of funding terror groups.
His lawyers have argued that the confessions on which those convictions were based were the result of torture. Israel denies the claims. His lawyers have also noted that the US government has long been aware of the convictions.
Sarsour was arrested at his home in Milwaukee by ICE officers on March 30. He was held at the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, for nearly three months.
U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered him released on June 18, finding that he had raised a substantial First Amendment issue. Sarsour returned to Milwaukee and the mosque held a prayer service upon his return.
Rep. Gwen Moore and other House Democrats had called for his release. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson had called his detention an outrage. Islamic Society Executive Director Othman Atta has said that Sarsour's case is the result of his criticism of the Israeli government.
At a status hearing Wednesday, one of Sarsour's attorneys urged the judge to include in her order that his removal be only to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Sarsour was from Jordan when it announced his arrest. His attorneys say that immigration agents asked him to list Jordan on papers because his country of entry, Palestine, is not a fully independent nation. The agency's statement in March also referred to him as a criminal illegal alien although he has had a green card for 32 years.
Sarsour called the decision "deeply disappointing" in a statement, saying he will appeal and he will continue to fight for his rights to free speech and to remain in the country he has called home for more than three decades.
The case is one of several the administration has used the foreign policy authority against noncitizens involved with pro-Palestinian activism.
Reporting by The Associated Press, Wisconsin Public Radio and WISN.
