MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Diya TV ) — CHICAGO (Diya TV) — An immigration judge has found Salah Sarsour, president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, deportable on foreign policy grounds. His lawyers announced the decision Wednesday and said they would appeal.
Judge Jayme Salinardi relied on a determination by Secretary of State Marco Rubio but rejected a separate government allegation that Sarsour falsified his permanent residency application. The ruling allows Sarsour to seek protection from removal before authorities can deport him.
Sarsour leads the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and has lived in the United States for more than three decades. He called the decision “deeply disappointing” and pledged to continue defending his right to free speech.
His attorney, Patrick Taurel, said the evidence did not support deportation. He argued that Salinardi gave excessive weight to Rubio’s memorandum and declined to examine the evidence behind the secretary’s determination.
Government attorneys cite Sarsour’s decades-old convictions in Israel as evidence that he poses a security threat. Sarsour denies committing the offenses, and his lawyers say Israeli authorities tortured him into confessing.
A federal judge ordered his release from immigration detention in June, finding that he had raised a substantial claim of retaliation for protected speech. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling.
Immigration officers arrested Sarsour in Milwaukee in March and held him at a county jail in Indiana. His lawyers maintain that authorities targeted him because of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
Taurel said the court gave his team time to seek protection under the Convention Against Torture. That application would require them to show that Sarsour would more likely than not face torture in the proposed destination country.
Another immigration judge will oversee the next stage of the proceedings following Salinardi’s retirement.
