US judge rules Wisconsin mosque leader Salah Sarsour can be deported

Sarsour’s lawyers say the decision threatens free speech protections and plan to fight the ruling.

Islamic Society of Milwaukee President Salah Sarsour on June 18, 2026, shortly after his release from a county jail in Indiana, where he was detained after his arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in March [File: Yaseen Najeeb via AP Photo]

A United States immigration judge has ruled the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque can be deported under a controversial law that United States President Donald Trump’s administration has used against non-citizens advocating for Palestinian rights.

Judge Jayme Salinardi ruled on Wednesday that Palestinian-born Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, can be removed from the US based in part on a memo by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “his actions undermine US foreign policy to combat antisemitism around the world”, according to his lawyers.

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Sarsour, who has lived in the US for more than three decades, called the ruling “deeply disappointing”.

“I will continue fighting to defend the right to free speech and to stay in the country I have called home for more than three decades,” he told The Associated Press news agency.

His lawyer, Patrick Taurel, strongly rejected the decision.

“I wish the world could see the evidence that we presented and hear the testimony that the court heard because the case we presented compels only one conclusion, which is that Salah is not deportable,” Taurel told reporters on Wednesday.

“He’s done nothing wrong. He should be given back his green card, frankly, with an apology for what’s being done to him.”

The ruling does not mean Sarsour will be immediately deported.

His lawyers have 60 days to argue that sending Sarsour back would put him at risk of torture, which could protect him from deportation under the Convention Against Torture. If they lose, they plan to appeal. Taurel said he can’t be deported while that appeal is pending and will remain in the US for the “foreseeable future”.

Sarsour was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Milwaukee in March, nine months after Rubio issued a memo declaring him deportable on foreign policy grounds.

The June 2025 memo invoked a rarely-used US law that allows the Secretary of State to seek the deportation of non-citizens whose presence could have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” The administration has used the same provision against pro-Palestinian activists Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi.

Sarsour’s lawyers criticised the “extreme deference” Salinardi gave to Rubio’s memo. But Taurel said the judge believed his hands were tied by an earlier ruling in Khalil’s case, which found that a letter from the Secretary of State could be enough to make someone deportable on foreign policy grounds.

That meant Salinardi could not look behind Rubio’s decision to examine the evidence supporting it, Taurel said.

“If the Secretary of State says the person is deportable, it is game over,” he told reporters Wednesday.

The government did not win on all of its arguments.

Salinardi rejected its allegation that Sarsour had lied on his green card application. Taurel said the judge also rejected an allegation that Sarsour had falsely claimed to be a US citizen in order to vote.

Al Jazeera reached out to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security but did not receive responses by the time of publication.

Decades-old convictions

Sarsour is separately fighting the Trump administration in federal court over his detention while his deportation case is ongoing.

A federal judge ordered his release from ICE custody in June after 81 days, questioning why decades-old convictions that US authorities had long known about suddenly justified detaining him. The judge found there was a “substantial” case that the government was retaliating against him for speaking out about Palestinian rights.

The Trump administration has appealed his release, arguing that Sarsour’s convictions in Israel make him a security threat. He was imprisoned in 1988 after confessing to throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail at Israeli military personnel, and was convicted again in 1995 over an attempt to hold weapons.

Sarsour denies the offences, and his lawyers say the confessions were forced through torture. His former lawyer, Jawad Boulos, testified in August that Sarsour was coerced into signing confessions and was not convicted of an offence tying him to a “terrorist” organisation.

Taurel criticised Salinardi for giving what he called “extreme deference” to Israeli government records submitted by ICE, which Sarsour’s lawyers argue were incomplete and relied on confessions obtained through torture.

“A great deal of evidence we presented was ignored,” Taurel said.

The evidence challenged Israel’s military court system, where he said secret evidence can be used and Palestinians can be denied access to lawyers for extended periods.

Luna Droubi, an attorney representing Sarsour, said the case raises broader questions about whether immigrants can speak freely on political issues without fear of being targeted by the government.

“Why raise these arrests now?” she said. “Do I have the right to speak out about issues that matter to me? What if I draw a political cartoon? Am I going to be arrested and detained because of that?”

‘The end of my life’

Sarsour said being deported to the occupied West Bank “means the end of my life”.

His lawyers argue his prior treatment in Israeli custody shows he could face torture if sent back. Taurel said Sarsour’s former lawyer testified that his case stood out because Sarsour told him that Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, had taken him to hospital while in custody.

The judge also named Jordan as a possible destination. Sarsour travelled to the US on a Jordanian-issued document, but his lawyers say he is not a Jordanian citizen and has no right to live there. They believe he could ultimately be returned to the West Bank and Israeli custody if sent to Jordan.

萨尔苏尔的律师表示，该决定威胁到言论自由的保护，并计划对该裁决提出抗辩。

2026年6月18日，密尔沃基伊斯兰协会主席萨拉赫·萨尔苏尔在印第安纳州的一个县监狱获释后不久，他于3月被美国移民和海关执法局特工逮捕后被拘留在那里。[图片：亚辛·纳吉布，美联社照片]

美国一名移民法官裁定，根据美国总统唐纳德·特朗普政府曾用来对付倡导巴勒斯坦权利的非公民的一项有争议的法律，威斯康星州最大清真寺的领导人可以被驱逐出境。

法官杰米·萨利纳尔迪周三裁定，根据国务卿马可·卢比奥的一份备忘录，巴勒斯坦裔的密尔沃基伊斯兰协会主席萨拉赫·萨尔苏尔可以被驱逐出境。据他的律师称，该备忘录部分内容指出，“他的行为破坏了美国打击世界各地反犹太主义的外交政策”。

特朗普政府要求美国最高法院撤销对亲巴勒斯坦学者的释放令（共4条，此为第1条）

巴勒斯坦裔美国人与美国国会议员会面（共四人），此时特朗普正寻求向以色列提供28亿美元援助。

美国法官下令释放被美国移民及海关执法局拘留的巴勒斯坦人权倡导者（共4人），名单3/4。

名单中的第四个：人权组织和密尔沃基领导人抨击美国移民及海关执法局逮捕巴勒斯坦维权人士

在美国生活了三十多年的萨尔苏尔称这一裁决“令人深感失望”。

“我将继续为捍卫言论自由的权利而奋斗，并继续留在我生活了三十多年的这个国家，”他告诉美联社。

他的律师帕特里克·陶雷尔强烈反对这一决定。

“我希望全世界都能看到我们提出的证据，听到法庭听到的证词，因为我们提出的案件只能得出一个结论，那就是萨拉赫不应该被驱逐出境，”陶雷尔周三告诉记者。

“他没做错任何事。坦白说，应该归还他的绿卡，并就他所遭受的一切向他道歉。”

该裁决并不意味着萨尔苏尔将被立即驱逐出境。

他的律师有60天的时间来论证将萨尔苏尔遣返会让他面临酷刑的风险，这或许能让他根据《禁止酷刑公约》免于被驱逐出境。如果败诉，他们计划提起上诉。陶雷尔表示，在上诉期间萨尔苏尔不会被驱逐出境，他将在“可预见的未来”留在美国。

萨尔苏尔于 3 月在密尔沃基被移民和海关执法局 (ICE) 官员拘留，此前九个月，卢比奥发布了一份备忘录，宣布基于外交政策理由，萨尔苏尔将被驱逐出境。

2025年6月的这份备忘录援引了一项鲜少使用的美国法律，该法律允许国务卿寻求驱逐那些其存在可能“对外交政策造成严重不利影响”的非公民。美国政府曾利用同样的条款驱逐亲巴勒斯坦活动人士马哈茂德·哈利勒和穆赫辛·马赫达维。

萨尔苏尔的律师批评萨利纳尔迪法官对鲁比奥的备忘录给予了“过度尊重”。但陶雷尔表示，法官认为，此前在哈利勒一案中的裁决限制了他的权力，该裁决认定，国务卿的一封信足以构成以外交政策为由将某人驱逐出境的理由。

陶雷尔说，这意味着萨利纳尔迪无法探究鲁比奥决定背后的证据。

“如果国务卿说这个人可以被驱逐出境，那就一切都结束了，”他周三告诉记者。

政府并非所有论点都成立。

萨利纳尔迪驳回了萨尔苏尔在绿卡申请中撒谎的指控。陶雷尔表示，法官还驳回了萨尔苏尔为了投票而谎称自己是美国公民的指控。

半岛电视台已联系美国国务院和国土安全部，但截至发稿时尚未收到回复。

几十年前的定罪

萨尔苏尔目前正就其被拘留一事在联邦法院与特朗普政府进行单独诉讼，与此同时，他的驱逐出境案件仍在审理中。

一名联邦法官在6月下令释放他，结束了他与美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）长达81天的羁押。法官质疑，为何美国当局早已知晓他数十年前的犯罪记录，如今却突然成为拘留他的理由。法官认为，有“充分”证据表明，政府是因为他公开支持巴勒斯坦人的权利而对他进行报复。

特朗普政府已就萨尔苏尔的释放提出上诉，理由是萨尔苏尔在以色列的犯罪记录使其构成安全威胁。他曾于1988年因承认向以色列军方人员投掷石块和燃烧弹而被判入狱，并于1995年因企图持有武器再次被定罪。

萨尔苏尔否认这些指控，他的律师称这些供词是在酷刑下被迫作出的。他的前律师贾瓦德·布洛斯在8月份作证说，萨尔苏尔是被迫签署认罪书的，而且他并未因与“恐怖组织”有关的罪行而被定罪。

陶雷尔批评萨利纳尔迪对以色列移民及海关执法局提交的以色列政府记录给予了“过度尊重”，而萨尔苏尔的律师则认为这些记录不完整，并且依赖于通过酷刑获得的供词。

“我们提出的很多证据都被忽略了，”陶雷尔说。

该证据对以色列的军事法庭系统提出了质疑，他表示，该系统可以使用秘密证据，并且巴勒斯坦人可能在很长一段时间内被剥夺获得律师帮助的权利。

代表萨尔苏尔的律师卢娜·德鲁比表示，此案引发了更广泛的问题，即移民是否可以自由地谈论政治问题而不必担心成为政府的目标。

“为什么现在要提起这些逮捕事件？”她问道，“我有权就我关心的问题发表意见吗？如果我画一幅政治漫画呢？我会因此被逮捕拘留吗？”

“我生命的终结”

萨尔苏尔说，被驱逐到被占领的西岸“意味着我生命的终结”。

他的律师辩称，他此前在以色列拘留期间受到的待遇表明，如果被遣返回以色列，他可能会面临酷刑。陶雷尔表示，萨尔苏尔的前律师作证说，他的案件之所以特殊，是因为萨尔苏尔告诉他，以色列国内安全机构辛贝特在拘留期间曾将他送往医院。

法官还指出约旦是可能的目的地之一。萨尔苏尔持约旦签发的证件前往美国，但他的律师表示，他并非约旦公民，无权在约旦居住。他们认为，如果萨尔苏尔被送往约旦，最终可能会被遣返回西岸，并被以色列拘留。