MILWAUKEE — After nearly three months in federal immigration detention, Salah Sarsour told supporters at a Milwaukee press conference Friday that he's grateful to be home and focused on building community connections "for the future of our children."
READ ALSO | Salah Sarsour returns home to Milwaukee after federal judge orders his release from ICE detention
U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon in Indiana ruled in favor of Sarsour's release Thursday. Sarsour was arrested by ICE in Milwaukee in March, accused of lying on his green card application in 1998.
Following Sarsour's release, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement, saying:
"There is no First Amendment right to fund terror organizations and lie on immigration forms. Any accusation of discrimination by ICE agents is FALSE. Sarsour is a terrorist who was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces. He is also an illegal alien that lied on his green card application to fraudulently gain legal status in the U.S. under the Clinton Administration."
However, the court addressed his previous convictions in Israel for throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at Israeli armed forces and attempting to hold weapons and ammunition.
Order Releasing Salah Sarsour by TMJ4 News
In his 29-page written decision, Judge Hanlon noted that Sarsour denies committing the crimes, but "[f]or the purpose of deciding the motion for release, the Court accepts the convictions as facially valid." The judge also noted that "the United States Government has been aware of these charges against Sarsour for 25 years, having considered them in 2000, 2008, 2010 and 2019."
Watch the full press conference:
Attorney Luna Droubi made claims of mistreatment by the ICE facility in Clay County, Indiana, saying Sarsour was denied basic medical treatment and was also "denied the ability to practice his faith freely." But she said the "real problem was that he should not have been detained in the first place," calling his detention "punitive."
"Salah Sarsour is a proud Palestinian, and as he told me, when he was in detention, nothing will stop him from speaking out about Palestinian human rights. Yesterday, a federal judge agreed and found that the government cannot retaliate against Salah for his advocacy," Droubi said.
Droubi also claimed that Sarsour's detention in Indiana was not surprising.
"The practice that we've seen in multiple cases is they try to shuttle people down south to favorable jurisdictions for them to impose the harshest treatment possible."
Judge Hanlon was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018. But Droubi said if it weren't for "the incredibly quick conduct of the legal team," he could have been moved even further south.
Droubi wasn't the only one who spoke for Sarsour.
Jodi Melamed of the Wisconsin Jews for Justice called it a "joyous day."
Melamed was one of nearly 200 people who traveled to Indiana to protest outside of Clay County Detention Center where Sarsour was being held.
"Some traveled many hundreds of miles to be there," Melamed said, noting one of the protesters was the wife of an Orthodox rabbi who used the words from the story of Exodus, "let my people go."
"Salah Sarsour is my people, we are all connected," Melamed said. "In the two months since Salah Sarsour was taken from his beloved community, thousands of Jewish Americans have risen up to oppose the state terror done in our name against Salah and other Palestinians."
Fauzia Qureshi, executive director of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, said Sarsour's release was a collective effort.
"From the moment Brother Sarsour was taken and detained, we made a decision. We were not going to whisper, we were not going to wait. We were going to organize," she said. "Muslim, non-Muslim, faith organizations, civil rights organizations, labor groups, and every other group. We thank you. We are grateful for all of you, all of us united under one truth."
While Sarsour's legal battles are not over, he is looking toward the future.
"Monday we'll have many meetings to continue building bridges more and more with other things to build the project more and more for the future of our children. We are builders for goodness," he said.
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