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

Sep 30, 2026, 6:26 AM Updated: 7:38 am

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. can deport the Palestinian-born leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday, while rejecting allegations that he lied on his green card application.

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 has lived in the U.S. for three decades and is president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. The government says his decades-old terrorism convictions in Israel make him a threat to national security in the U.S. and accuse him of lying about it on his green card application.

Immigration Judge Jayme Salinardi agreed but tossed out the claim that he lied.

Sarsour, who was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after confessing to throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at Israeli military personnel. In 1995, he was convicted of attempting to hold weapons and ammunition. Sarsour denies committing those crimes. His attorneys say he was tortured and coerced into confessing in both instances.

Sarsour 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. He is president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

Being sent back to the West Bank, “means the end of my life,” Sarsour told The Associated Press in a Tuesday interview.

One of his attorneys, Patrick Taurel, told the AP that Sarsour’s earlier treatment by Israeli authorities is “probably a good indicator of what awaits him” if he is deported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a rare memo in June 2025 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.

Before the judge’s ruling, Taurel said Sarsour would fight his removal and would likely need to demonstrate that he would face torture by Israel if he were deported.

“It’s a very high bar, although I think we can meet it in this case, given what Salah has already experienced, and given the government of Israel’s treatment of people similarly situated” to him,” Taurel said.

Sarsour is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a status conference.