ICE detains Milwaukee Islamic Society president Salah Sarsour over decades-old West Bank record

On the morning of March 30, roughly a dozen federal vehicles surrounded Salah Sarsour outside a warehouse he owns on Milwaukee's south side. By his family's account, relayed by Islamic Society of Milwaukee executive director Othman Atta, an unmarked car drove at him on the wrong side of the street, and a plainclothes officer pointed a gun at him and asked for him by name before he was loaded into a van and told he was in federal immigration custody. Sarsour — a lawful permanent resident for more than 30 years, a businessman with no U.S. criminal record, and the five-year board president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest Islamic organization — was transported to the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois and then quickly transferred to a county jail in Indiana, complicating his counsel's access to him.

The Department of Homeland Security's public statement repeatedly called Sarsour a "terrorist" and an "illegal alien from Jordan." It rested on an Israeli military-court conviction from his teenage years in the occupied West Bank — Sarsour says he was interrogated and tortured over 80 days in Israeli custody, and that written charges were in Hebrew he could not read — and on an accusation that he "lied" on immigration forms. His attorneys note the U.S. government knew of the Israeli record when it admitted him in 1993 and at every step since; he has been pursuing citizenship since 1999. They say the government is also invoking the foreign-policy-threat ground, the same provision used against Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, and characterize the case as retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights — a claim that is theirs, but one the government's own choice of grounds does little to rebut.

The detention drew condemnation from Milwaukee's county executive and mayor, Rep. Gwen Moore, state legislators, CAIR, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Muslim and Christian clergy. Attorney Munjed Ahmad said the government "should not be doing the bidding of a foreign government"; the Muslim Legal Fund of America's immigration-litigation head said it was difficult to believe the government's position "is not rooted in a violation of his First Amendment right to speak about the suffering of Palestinians." An immigration hearing was set for April 18, and his attorneys filed a petition seeking his release.

Updates

2026-06-18 — Federal judge ordered Sarsour released from ICE detention, citing substantial First Amendment claim [7]

A Trump-appointed federal judge ordered Salah Sarsour released from ICE custody, finding that his lawyers had "presented a substantial claim of First Amendment retaliation" and that his continued detention was unlawful. Sarsour had been held for approximately 80 days across ICE facilities in Illinois and Indiana. His deportation proceedings remained pending at the time of his release.

2026-07-23 — Immigration judge in Chicago heard full-day testimony in deportation case; proceedings continue [8, 9]

An immigration judge in Chicago heard testimony for the full day on July 23, 2026 in the federal government's deportation case against Sarsour. The government continues to pursue deportation on the basis of a 1993 Israeli military-court conviction from his teenage years in the occupied West Bank; his attorneys argue the action is retaliation for his Palestinian rights advocacy. Speaking publicly after his release, Sarsour said his ICE detention brought back memories of his imprisonment as a teenager under Israeli military occupation. Deportation proceedings were set to continue the following week.

2026-07-30 — Prosecutors challenged Sarsour's torture and PTSD claims with polygraph testimony [10]

On the second day of hearings, federal prosecutors sought to cast doubt on Sarsour's claims that he was tortured by Israeli authorities in the 1980s and suffers resulting PTSD. An FBI polygraph examiner testified Sarsour passed a 2004 polygraph limited to an unrelated question about voting in a U.S. election as a non-citizen, while a forensic psychologist testified Sarsour met full PTSD criteria from alleged beatings, threats, and stress positions; prosecutors questioned the psychologist's fees and suggested malingering. Another hearing was scheduled for the following week, with a decision expected in early September 2026.