⭕️ Judge Rules Milwaukee Palestinian Advocate Salah Sarsour Deportable; Legal Team Vows Appeal
🔸In a decision announced Tuesday night, an immigration judge found Sarsour deportable based on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's claim that his pro-Palestine speech harms U.S. foreign policy.
🔸The judge also deferred to Israeli military court records provided to DHS by the Israeli government. Sarsour was imprisoned in 1988 after confessing to throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers, and was convicted in 1995 of attempting to hold weapons. Sarsour denies the offenses, and his lawyers say the records are incomplete and selective and that the confessions were obtained under torture.
🔸The judge named occupied Palestine and Jordan as the places Sarsour could be deported to (the ruling says "Israel," since the U.S. does not recognize Palestine). Sarsour entered the U.S. on a Jordanian travel document, as many Palestinians do, but his lawyers say it gives him no citizenship or right to live there, and that Jordan would likely hand him straight to Israeli custody.
🔸Sarsour's lawyers have 60 days to seek protection under the Convention Against Torture on the grounds that he would face torture if returned, with a trial expected in early 2027.
🔸The ruling has no effect on the separate federal case that ended his detention, so Sarsour remains free, though the administration has appealed his release.
Sarsour, president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, has been a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. for more than 30 years and is the father of six U.S. citizens and grandfather of ten. He was detained in March 2026 and spent 81 days in ICE custody before a federal judge ordered his release in June, ruling that his detention risked violating his free speech rights.
"In my case, all evidence was thrown aside, and instead, a foreign country's false information and unjust military courts were used to trample on my rights and ignore the truth," Sarsour said in a statement. "But this fight is bigger than me, and I will not stop standing up for what's right and for justice in Palestine."