Immigration judge rules US can deport president of Wisconsin's largest mosque

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - ‌A US ​immigration judge ​ruled the US government can deport Palestinian American Salah Sarsour, who is the president of Wisconsin's largest mosque and a US ‌permanent resident, under a Cold War-era law.

Sarsour, who grew up in ⁠the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in late ‌March and released in mid-June ‌after a federal judge said he had raised a substantial free speech retaliation claim that would render his detention unlawful.

Chicago Immigration Court Judge Jayme Salinardi ​sided late on Tuesday with the government's argument that Sarsour posed a security and foreign policy threat under the Cold War-era Immigration and Nationality ⁠Act, while rejecting the government's allegation that he lied on his green card application.

Sarsour's legal team said on ​Wednesday they will appeal the ruling.

Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest mosque, says Sarsour has lived in the US for ​over three decades.

The mosque has said Sarsour ‌was "being targeted on the basis of his Palestinian and Muslim background, and his advocacy for Palestinian rights."

He has type 2 diabetes ⁠and lost more than 30 pounds in ICE detention, his legal team said.

Sarsour has no criminal record in the US and was convicted as a teenager in an ⁠Israeli military court before he came to the United States, which the Trump administration noted ​to cast him as a threat. Sarsour says the government has known that information for decades.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem says military courts in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried ‌for alleged crimes, have a 96% conviction rate and a history of extracting confessions through torture.

U.S. President Donald Trump's ‌administration, which has cracked down on pro-Palestinian voices, says Sarsour was convicted of throwing ⁠Molotov cocktails at the homes of ‌Israeli armed forces. Sarsour ​denies committing such crimes and says he was tortured and coerced into past confessions.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by ‌Michael Perry)

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