For 80 days, Salah Sarsour lived in tight confinement in an Indiana jail under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, awaiting what he hoped would be a vindication of his free speech rights.
On Juneteenth, a day after a federal judge ordered his release, the Franklin man again exercised those rights as he spoke in front of media and religious leaders at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee mosque on South 13th Street, where he was joined by his family and supporters.
“I am back to serve the community,” Sarsour said at the news conference.
News conference addressed judge’s June 18 order for release
Sarsour, 53, the president of ISM’s board of directors and a Palestinian advocate, was arrested March 30 by ICE agents in Milwaukee.
His outspoken nature on Palestinian rights prompted ICE’s attempt to deport him, infringing on his First Amendment rights, his attorneys have said.
“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,” said Luna Droubi, a New York attorney who is part of his legal team. “Yesterday, a federal judge agreed, and found that the government cannot retaliate against the law for his advocacy.”
She added: “The lesson here today is clear. The government’s policy of chilling the speech of those who advocate for Palestinians will not succeed.”
On June 18, U.S. District Judge James P. Hanlon of the Southern District of Indiana ordered Sarsour’s release. In Hanlon’s 29-page order, he stated that Sarsour’s First Amendment claims were “substantial, which could render his detention unlawful” and noted “Sarsour’s speech in support of Palestinian rights is protected by the First Amendment.”
Hanlon referenced past government statements, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s memorandum to the Department of Homeland Security one year ago saying he’d determined Sarsour was deportable due to concerns he could “undermine U.S. foreign policy.”
After detaining Sarsour in March, the Department of Homeland Security pointed to Sarsour’s two arrests by Israeli forces in the West Bank, including one as a teenager. DHS also alleged that Sarsour was suspected of funding terror organizations and lying on immigration forms.
The agency provided no evidence to support those allegations when asked by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Sarsour speaks of detention and his unbent ideals
The June 19 news conference touched on Sarsour’s 80-day ordeal in custody that left him 35 pounds thinner but unyielding in his activism.
“We are builders for goodness,” Sarsour said. “We are against wrongdoing.”
“We will continue to do the same… to support the community and society and to deliver goodness everywhere,” he added.
Sarsour acknowledged his sudden arrest, and the time he spent in the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, shook him and left him wondering if he would ever see his family again. He said his thoughts turned to his 85-year-old mother, who had been hospitalized with a heart problem shortly before his arrest.
“I owe it to her to stand with her, not to be away when she needs me,” Sarsour said, noting that she raised him alone after his father died, when Sarsour was 4 years old.
He endured what he described as a “cold” jail cell, a point that another of his attorneys, Munjed Ahmad of Milwaukee, also brought up.
Ahmad said Sarsour was kept in a holding area where the temperature sometimes stood at 50 degrees, with only a thin blanket issued to help him stay warm. A lack of medication and treatment for his health problems, which include diabetes and ulcers on his feet, contributed to him losing 35 pounds and six inches off his waistline in just 80 days, according to attorneys.
“His physician is shocked he that he didn’t come out worse for wear,” Ahmad said.
Legal issues remain, his attorneys acknowledge
Sarsour, who has lived in the U.S. for more than 32 years and is a lawful permanent resident, still faces a legal battle.
Though the motion for his release was granted, Hanlon has not issued a decision on Sarsour’s habeas corpus petition or on the merits of his “removability.” A June 24 hearing has been set in Sarsour’s deportation case, a separate proceeding in immigration court.
Sarsour’s legal team has argued that DHS’ allegations were generated decades after Sarsour won a green card and only because of his Palestinian views – a point, Ahmad said, Hanlon suggested in his ruling.
Ahmad said that how Sarsour’s case plays out remains to be seen, but his dedication to Sarsour’s defense will not waver.
“I get to work for somebody who I truly believe in,” Ahmad said. “I get to work for somebody who’s my best friend, who’s my brother, who I love dearly.”
Family shows strain, but expresses their happiness
If words weren’t enough to express what his immediate family has lived through, there was an obvious physical sign: At one point, near the end of the news conference, one of Sarsour’s younger sons fainted.
Ahmad said the youth’s pent-up emotions that spilled out with his father’s June 18 release may have caught up with him.
Regardless, Sarsour and his family are happy he’s back in Wisconsin.
“My son insisted on bringing a blanket today, thinking his grandfather is so cold from the nights he spent over there [in jail],” Kareem Sarsour, Salah’s older son, said. “When we heard the news yesterday … we knew it was a dream come true.”
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Out of ICE custody, Salah Sarsour says he is ‘back to serve the community’
Reporting by Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
