US can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque on national security grounds, judge rules

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque — an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights — on the grounds that he is a threat to national security, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday.

Salah Sarsour was detained in Milwaukee in March by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 called the ruling “deeply disappointing,” but said 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 in a statement.

Government attorneys say Sarsour’s decades-old convictions in Israel make him a threat to national security and accuse him of lying on his green card application and falsely claiming citizenship to vote. Judge Jayme Salinardi, with the Chicago Immigration Court, found him removable on foreign policy grounds but tossed out the government’s claim that Sarsour lied to immigration authorities.

“All illegal aliens receive due process,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period.”

Sarsour says his life will be at risk if he is deported to the West Bank

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. DHS has said he was also convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail. His defense team says he was accused of that but not convicted. In 1995, he was convicted of attempting to possess weapons. Sarsour denies committing those crimes and his attorneys say he was tortured and coerced into confessing in both instances.

Sarsour, the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, 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.

Deportation to the West Bank “means the end of my life,” Sarsour told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

One of his attorneys, Patrick Taurel, said Sarsour’s 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 or the Palestinian territories. Jordan, a country to which Sarsour has no connection, is listed as a possible destination on the order of removal.

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,” Taurel said.

Salinardi declined, saying that can be addressed on appeal.

If sent to Jordan, Sarsour “would just be immediately handed off to Israel,” Taurel said during a news conference Wednesday.

Attorney says Sarsour will fight deportation

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo in June 2025 invoking a rarely used immigration provision saying Sarsour could be deported on the same grounds as Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, both advocates for Palestinian rights whom the Trump administration has tried to expel, according to court documents.

DHS said in its statement that Rubio “has reasonable grounds to believe Sarsour’s presence would have adverse foreign policy consequences for the U.S., and he has engaged in terrorist activity or supported a terrorist organization.”

Salinardi found Rubio’s letter singling out Sarsour as a foreign policy risk was “presumptive and sufficient evidence” that the government can remove him, Taurel said Wednesday, reading from the judge’s decision. The judge gave “extreme deference” to Rubio and to Israel, which has “collaborated” with DHS in the effort to deport Sarsour, the attorney said.

Taurel has said Sarsour will need to demonstrate that he could be tortured again if he were deported, calling it a “very high bar” that he believes his team “can meet in this case.”

A notice of appeal is due within 30 days, and Sarsour has 60 days to file an application for relief. The government cannot deport Sarsour until he has exhausted all available legal avenues. Salinardi, who did not schedule a new hearing, announced he is retiring and that Judge Craig Defoe will oversee the case going forward.

Sarsour says he was tortured and coerced into confessions

Jawad Boulos, who represented Sarsour when he was convicted in Israel, testified in August that Sarsour was coerced into confessing and that he wasn’t convicted of any charge tying him to a terrorist organization. He said Sarsour was tortured by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency.

The Department of Homeland Security challenged Boulos about the torture allegations, questioning how he could know it was true.

Sarsour’s defense team has repeatedly asked why the government waited until this year to detain him, saying it has known of his imprisonment in Israel for decades.

Experts on forced confessions and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons also testified in Sarsour’s defense. Israeli military courts have faced repeated scrutiny over allegations of limited due process and the high conviction rate of Palestinians. Israel rejects the claims.

In June, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon ordered Sarsour released from ICE custody saying he could have a case arguing the U.S. government detained him in retaliation for protected speech. Further, Hanlon said, government attorneys had not explained why Sarsour was suddenly considered a threat after decades as a lawful permanent resident.

The Trump administration has appealed Hanlon’s ruling.

Sarsour, who has Type 2 diabetes, lost more than 30 pounds (14 kilograms) while detained by ICE, and his blood sugar levels were checked only once a month, putting him at risk of organ failure or death, his attorneys said.

An investigation by KFF Health News and The Associated Press found that hundreds of detainees in at least 33 states have filed federal lawsuits with similar allegations of medical neglect.

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Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.