LEILA FADEL, HOST:
On March 30, Salah Sarsour started his day in Franklin, Wisconsin, planning to take his mom to the doctor. But when he walked out of the house, it became clear the day had other plans for him.
SALAH SARSOUR: I saw this man, young man, coming toward me. And I saw, like, kind of a large gun next to him.
FADEL: (Gasping).
SARSOUR: I was kind of surprised - what's going on? And immediately he approached me saying, are you Salah Sarsour?
FADEL: Soon, Sarsour says there were about a dozen cars parked in front of him. Some 20 officers got out of those cars.
SARSOUR: One of them identified himself with badge saying, Salah Sarsour, you're under arrest - I'm with ICE.
FADEL: He was sure it had to be a mistake. He lived in the United States for over 30 years, has had a green card for most of that time. He's a respected leader at one of the largest mosques in Wisconsin and has a pristine record. He's also known in his community for his advocacy for Palestinian rights. And that advocacy, he says, is why the government is targeting him.
SARSOUR: For me, it's very obvious. It's just because my activism and my stand with human rights and just causes, especially the cause of Palestine.
FADEL: His lawyers say it's part of a trend by the government that started with the detention of college students last year who'd protested the war in Gaza. Sarsour was detained for 80 days, where he says he faced religious discrimination.
SARSOUR: I requested for at least a prayer mat to have something clean under me when I pray, and they don't give me anything. Then I requested a Quran, and they don't have a Quran. They not allow us Muslim at all, till I left, to gather as Muslims and pray the Friday prayer, while they're allowing Christians and other religion to gather and to do the weekly prayer together. I request to use the same rules for Muslims, and they refused.
FADEL: Last month, a Trump-appointed federal judge ordered Sarsour's release. The judge said Sarsour had raised a, quote, "substantial" First Amendment retaliation claim, and that Sarsour's speech on Palestinian rights is protected.
SARSOUR: He gave me hope in the system. This judge make me feel, wait a minute, there's still righteous people. There are still fair people here in the system.
FADEL: Sarsour was born in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And his experiences as a teenager, that the government has long known about, are now part of the U.S. government's case to detain and eventually deport him.
The Department of Homeland Security has called you a, quote, "terrorist." They've pointed to two Israeli military court convictions. One for throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at the home of Israeli armed forces in 1989, and another in 1995, where you were convicted for attempting to hold weapons and ammunition. How do you respond to those accusations, the things they're calling you?
SARSOUR: So I was arrested when I was 15 years old or 15 1/2 from my house in Al-Bireh, Ramallah. The Israeli soldiers came to my house with weapons, and they arrested me as a child. From my house, they took me to the Israeli bad news prison there. And I went through full torture, actually. Even they threatened me with rape. Now, even the document they made us sign, like, as a child - imagine, 15 years old.
FADEL: Yeah.
SARSOUR: They make me sign a document in Hebrew language. I don't understand a word of it. And right now, to be honest with you, I don't know what I signed in that year, 1988. After that, the judge kept me in prison for 23 months. And even the American government and the American embassy, they learned about my situation. That's why they gave me a waiver, and they gave me the green card, because they understood that I went through this tough situation in my childhood. It's not like something secret.
FADEL: Yeah, I mean, that's in your court documents. Actually, in the judge's decision to release you, he mentions that the United States government had been aware of these charges against Mr. Sarsour for 25 years, having considered them in 2000, 2008, 2010 and 2019 in evaluating Mr. Sarsour's eligibility for naturalization. For people who don't understand, the Israeli military courts try Palestinian civilians in areas that are Israeli-military-controlled, correct? Under occupation.
SARSOUR: Hundred percent.
FADEL: And human rights groups have documented abuses of the system, limited due process. And this has really faced scrutiny. Israel has defended the process. DHS also accused you of lying on your green card application. What do you say to that?
SARSOUR: I explained this point with immigration in many meetings. There's a question if I did any crime. And I wrote, no, I don't do any crime in the States. I have a very clean record in the States.
FADEL: Right.
SARSOUR: I'm a businessman, family man and a community person. So they wrote it now as if I supposed to say, no, however, I did or I went through what I went through in Palestine...
FADEL: Yeah.
SARSOUR: ...Under the Israeli occupation. I don't have nothing to hide. I want to show the entire world, like, as children, what we go through under the occupation. So they consider it lie. I don't know how it's lie and I'm still fighting this.
FADEL: Now, Salah Sarsour is back home with his family, which includes six children and nine grandchildren. During our interview, you could hear one of his youngest grandchildren trying to get his attention.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Laughter).
SARSOUR: They're so attached to me.
FADEL: Oh, they are?
SARSOUR: It's like I'm trying to run away from them. I don't know where their mom gone.
FADEL: He says returning to his community, his family has renewed his strength.
SARSOUR: I'm going to continue the fight for the future, again, of my children and to continue what I'm doing in my community. I mean, with the support I have and love I have, I want to just continue the fight until, hopefully, justice will prevail and this case will end in the right direction.
FADEL: Salah Sarsour is the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. He's a father, a grandfather and a community leader in Wisconsin. Thank you for speaking with us. I appreciate your time.
SARSOUR: Thank you very much, Leila. I really appreciate it.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE SOUND DEFECTS' "PLAN B")
FADEL: We reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for a response to what Salah Sarsour said about his treatment in detention. A DHS spokesperson wrote in part, quote, "any accusation of discrimination by ICE agents is false." They also wrote, thanks to this court order, this public safety threat is now loose on our streets. We also reached out to the Israel prison service to ask about Sarsour's account of torture and being forced to sign a confession in a language he didn't understand. We have not heard back. Sarsour's next immigration hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE SOUND DEFECTS' "PLAN B") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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