Wisconsin Mosque President Detained by ICE

The president of Wisconsin's largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations Thursday from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his criticism of Israel, the AP reports. Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who surrounded his car on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Supporters called Thursday for his immediate release. His attorneys said he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat, a claim they say has no merit.

Instead, they believe Sarsour, 53, was targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts, which have faced scrutiny over allegations of limited due process and high conviction rates of Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims. The offenses included allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli officers, according to attorney Munjed Ahmad. "Our government should not be doing the bidding of a foreign government," Ahmad said of Israel. "There's no question in my mind is that this is to stifle the discourse on the Palestinian narrative."

Attorneys said Sarsour, born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has no criminal record in the US, where he has lived for more than 30 years. They said the US government has known about Sarsour's conviction in Israel since he came to the US in 1993. Sarsour has been the board president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the largest Islamic organization in the state, for five years. His attorneys say he holds a green card and lives just outside Milwaukee. His wife and four adult children are US citizens. At a crowded news conference, boisterous supporters chanted to free Sarsour, recounting his advocacy for those in need. (See what they had to say here.)