US to deport president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque

Immigration authorities in the United States have ruled that Salah Sarsour, the president of Wisconsin's largest mosque, can be deported under a Cold War-era law. Sarsour, a Palestinian-American with a green card, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March and released in June after a federal judge found his detention unlawful due to free speech retaliation claims.

The Immigration and Nationality Act now permits his deportation, citing security and foreign policy threats. Sarsour, who has lived in the US for over three decades, denies the allegations of wrongdoing and asserts that he is being targeted due to his Palestinian and Muslim background. The Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest mosque, asserts that Sarsour has faced persecution based on those factors and his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

He faces deportation unless he exhausts all legal options. Sarsour, who has no criminal record in the US, was previously convicted as a teenager in an Israeli military court. The Trump administration had previously accused him of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces, a claim he denies and alleges he was tortured into confessing.

The administration has targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, threatened funding freezes for universities, and enforced social media screening of immigrants, asserting that criticism of Israeli actions does not equate to antisemitism.