Judge Rules Leader Of State’s Largest Mosque Can Be Deported

A US immigration judge has ruled that Salah Sarsour, leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, can be deported under a law used against non-citizens advocating for Palestinian rights https://t.co/UQwnYpoTyS pic.twitter.com/EmvMNS1bAN

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 1, 2026

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Government attorneys say Sarsour’s decades-old convictions in Israel make him a threat to national security and accuse him of lying on his green card application and falsely claiming citizenship to vote. Judge Jayme Salinardi, with the Chicago Immigration Court, found him removable on foreign policy grounds but tossed out the government’s claim that Sarsour lied to immigration authorities.

“All illegal aliens receive due process,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period.”

Sarsour, who was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after being convicted of throwing stones at Israeli military personnel. DHS has said he was also convicted of throwing a Molotov cocktail. His defense team says he was accused of that but not convicted. In 1995, he was convicted of attempting to possess weapons. Sarsour denies committing those crimes and his attorneys say he was tortured and coerced into confessing in both instances.

Sarsour, the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, 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.

Deportation to the West Bank “means the end of my life,” Sarsour told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

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TERRORIST ARRESTED. @ICEgov arrested Salah Salem Sarsour, a Jordanian national with a prior conviction for throwing a MOLOTOV COCKTAIL at the homes of Israeli Forces. He also lied on his green card application to get legal status under President Clinton.

Thanks to the brave… pic.twitter.com/8D9xho24rL

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 3, 2026

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https://t.co/Bn6cOKAvNl pic.twitter.com/dEUVQTOCjL

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 30, 2026

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

At a status hearing Wednesday, Taurel pressed the judge to specify that Sarsour can only be deported to Israel or the Palestinian territories. Jordan, a country to which Sarsour has no connection, is listed as a possible destination on the order of removal.

Sarsour was instructed by immigration officers to list Jordan as his home country on an immigration form because his preferred entry — “Palestine” — is not a fully independent, unified state. But he “has no right to reside in Jordan,” Taurel said.

Salinardi declined, saying that can be addressed on appeal.

If sent to Jordan, Sarsour “would just be immediately handed off to Israel,” Taurel said during a news conference Wednesday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo in June 2025 invoking a rarely used immigration provision 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.

DHS said in its statement that Rubio “has reasonable grounds to believe Sarsour’s presence would have adverse foreign policy consequences for the U.S., and he has engaged in terrorist activity or supported a terrorist organization.”

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