A Milwaukee, Wisconsin, grandfather who has been hailed a “pillar” of the city’s Muslim community was revealed to have been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday, despite possessing legal permanent residency in the US, his advocates said.
Salah Sarsour, who is president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, has been lawfully present in the US for more than three decades, the mosque said in a statement posted alongside a fundraiser for his legal defence.
“He is a father, a grandfather, a dear husband, and a kind and principled role model for countless people in Milwaukee and beyond.”
The Muslim Legal Fund of America has taken up Sarsour’s case, and said on Wednesday that “the government appears to be using the immigration system to target individuals for protected speech related to Palestine and Palestinians”.
Sarsour’s vehicle was surrounded by 10 federal agents before his arrest, the Council on American Islamic Relations said, “with no cause”.
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Sarsour was then quickly moved out of state to Illinois before being transferred again to Indiana – a practice often employed by ICE to proceed with their cases in a more favourable jurisdiction to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Middle East Eye has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and received a response from ICE’s public affairs division saying it is “working” on the Sarsour case and “will respond as soon as possible”.
Reaction
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which says it has assumed a supporting role to Sarsour’s legal team, told MEE on Thursday that “it’s hard to think of any other reason why this would have happened” other than his race and religion.
“We’re at a point where we are witnessing the biggest threat to our freedom of speech and expression, and unfortunately, many Americans are falling asleep while it’s happening. There needs to be more attention brought to this and more of a response from the general public,” Abed Ayoub, ADC’s national executive director, told MEE.
Officials at all levels of government in Wisconsin have come to Sarsour’s defence.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Moore wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
“Salah Sarsour is a respected leader in the Milwaukee community, and his detention raises serious concerns about the continued targeting of lawful residents based on the color of their skin or their political beliefs.”
“I will do everything in my power to bring Salah Sarsour home to his family and community,” she added.
Democratic State Senator Chris Larson demanded that the federal government reveal what its case is against Sarsour.
“Our increasingly fascist federal government has not released any information as to why he was taken into custody or what he is being charged with. What we do know is that Salah is Palestinian-American and is a vocal advocate for a free and independent Palestinian state,” Larson wrote on Facebook.
“No one in America is free if due process and free speech are no longer protected.”
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors said in a statement that the Trump administration “is trying to divide and terrorize us”.
“It will not work. Courts have ruled these abhorrent tactics unlawful again and again, and history will judge harshly anyone who participates in or defends them.”
Sarsour’s “Master Calendar Hearing”, which is the first phase of removal proceedings in US immigration court, is set for 13 April in Chicago, Illinois.
