Salah Sarsour: 33-year US resident faces deportation over 1980s convictions

An immigration judge in Chicago ruled on September 30 that Salah Sarsour, the 53-year-old president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, can be deported on national security grounds. The decision by Judge Jayme Salinardi rests on two convictions Sarsour received in Israel — one in 1988 for throwing a Molotov cocktail, another in 1995 for attempting to possess weapons — and on his advocacy for Palestinian rights. Sarsour has lived in the United States since 1993 and holds no criminal record here across 33 years.

The ruling creates a legal paradox the government itself helped shape. In March 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Sarsour in Milwaukee. A federal judge ordered his release in June after finding he raised a "substantial" claim that the Trump administration targeted him for speaking out against Israel. That federal judge did not rule on the merits of the deportation case; the immigration judge did, and reached a different conclusion.

Judge Salinardi found Sarsour removable on foreign policy and national security grounds. At the same time, she dismissed the government's separate allegation that Sarsour lied on his green card application or falsely claimed U.S. citizenship to vote. The fraud claims, which carried their own removal consequences, were rejected outright.

Sarsour was born in Palestine and came to the United States in 1993. He became a lawful permanent resident and has led Wisconsin's largest mosque for years. The Israeli convictions date to his youth: the 1988 offense occurred when he was roughly 15 years old, the 1995 offense when he was roughly 22. He served prison time in Israel for both. Since arriving in the United States, the record shows no arrests, no convictions, no immigration violations beyond what the government alleged and the judge dismissed.

The national security designation turns on a provision that allows removal when the Secretary of State determines an alien's presence would have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." The government argued Sarsour's past actions and his public advocacy for Palestinian rights met that threshold. Judge Salinardi agreed. She did not find that Sarsour poses a threat of violence in the United States. She found that his history and his speech, taken together, satisfy the statutory standard.

Civil liberties advocates say the ruling sets a precedent that decouples national security determinations from domestic conduct. A long-term resident with a clean U.S. record can now be removed based on foreign convictions from decades ago and on political expression protected by the First Amendment for citizens. The government's own fraud allegations failed, yet the removal order stands.

The case now moves to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Sarsour's attorneys are expected to challenge the national security designation and the use of his advocacy as a basis for removal. The Department of Homeland Security has not stated whether it will pursue immediate deportation while appeals proceed. A federal judge already found Sarsour's claim of retaliatory targeting substantial enough to warrant release from detention. That finding remains on the record alongside the immigration judge's removal order.

The tension between the two judicial findings — one that the government likely targeted Sarsour for his speech, another that his speech and foreign history justify removal — frames the broader question. The immigration statute grants broad discretion on national security grounds. Courts have historically deferred to the executive on foreign policy consequences. But the combination of a 33-year clean domestic record, dismissed fraud charges, and a federal judge's finding of retaliatory motive creates a factual landscape that appellate review will have to navigate.

Sarsour remains free pending appeal. The Islamic Society of Milwaukee has not announced changes to its leadership. The case draws attention from religious freedom organizations, immigrant rights groups, and legal scholars tracking the boundaries of the national security removal power. The next filing deadline before the Board of Immigration Appeals falls within 30 days of the September 30 decision.