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

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds a two-day job fair in Arlington — Shelby Tauber By Kanishka SinghWASHINGTON, 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) This one's on us. The story doesn't end here. Our correspondents are already on the next chapter. Read everything they file, from $2/week. See Offers