Statement on the ruling to deport Salah Sarsour
This week, an immigration judge ruled that Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, can be deported from the country he has called home for 33 years. He has never been charged with a crime in the United States. The judge rejected the government’s claim that he lied on his green card application, which leaves a State Department finding that his presence harms American foreign policy. That finding is not a criminal charge. It is a political judgment about a man whose advocacy for Palestinian rights is protected speech.
The First Amendment protects everyone in this country, not only citizens. In June, a federal judge ordered Mr. Sarsour released from ICE detention after finding a substantial claim that he had been jailed in retaliation for that speech. An immigration ruling cannot make it any less protected.
When a lawful resident can be removed for his opinions, every green card holder learns to watch what they say, from the student writing an op-ed to the imam giving a Friday sermon. That silence is the purpose of cases like this one, and it will not stop with Muslims or Palestinians.
ICNA CSJ stands with Salah Sarsour, his family, and the Islamic Society of Milwaukee as they appeal. We ask every American who values free speech, whatever their views on Palestine, to defend his right to speak and to stay in the city where he has raised his family.
Salah Sarsour belongs in Milwaukee.
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Featured photo: Yaseen Najeeb Photography, courtesy of the Free Salah Sarsour campaign (background softened).