US judge allows deportation of Wisconsin mosque president — The Guardian

An immigration judge in the United States ruled that Salah Sarsour, the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, is subject to deportation under a controversial Cold War-era law. President Donald Trump’s administration sought to apply this law to foreign nationals who publicly advocated for Palestinian rights, The Guardian reports.

Separate immigration proceedings

Sarsour, who has held permanent resident status in the United States for nearly 30 years, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March. He was released in June after a federal judge concluded that the detention was likely retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights and therefore may have been unlawful.

Despite this ruling, the administration accelerated separate immigration proceedings. On Tuesday evening, Judge Jamie Salinardi, who was brought in from another state to hear the case, declared Sarsour removable. Shortly afterward, the judge announced that he would retire soon.

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Positions of the parties

Sarsour’s lawyers called the ruling a blow to freedom of speech and said their client had done nothing that could constitute grounds for deportation. The US Department of Homeland Security had previously claimed that Sarsour was suspected of financing terrorist organizations and providing false information in immigration documents. He denied both allegations.

After the arrest, the agency also cited old convictions by an Israeli military court, including in a case involving the throwing of a Molotov cocktail and an attempt to unlawfully obtain weapons and ammunition. Sarsour said he was detained by the Israeli military in 1989, when he was a teenager, and signed documents in Hebrew under torture and threats of rape. According to him, he spent two years in an Israeli prison after the conviction.

Sarsour serves on the board of the national civil rights organization American Muslims for Palestine. He has six children and nine grandchildren who are US citizens and said he would continue to appeal the decision.