Islamic Society of Milwaukee President Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist and community leader detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March, was released from detention on Thursday after an order by a federal judge.
"Mr. Sarsour has raised a 'substantial' First Amendment (free speech) retaliation claim, which could render his detention unlawful," US District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon said in the ruling on Thursday. The judge was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term.
ISM, Wisconsin's largest mosque, says Sarsour, 53, is a legal permanent resident who has lived in the US for over three decades. He grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The mosque had said Sarsour was "being targeted on the basis of his Palestinian and Muslim background, and his advocacy for Palestinian rights".
"I will never stop speaking for Palestine and humanity, wherever I am," Sarsour said after his release. "I am so relieved to be with my family." Sarsour , who has type 2 diabetes, lost more than 30 pounds in detention, his legal team said.
He has no criminal record in the US and was convicted as a teenager in an Israeli military court before he came to the US. Rights groups say that military courts in the occupied West Bank have a 96% conviction rate and a history of extracting confessions through torture.
Noting his past conviction, the Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, said Sarsour was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces.
"There is no First Amendment right to fund terror organisations and lie on immigration forms," DHS said on Thursday. Sarsour has denied supporting extremists.
The judge said Sarsour should remain in Wisconsin. The case against him continues. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was among advocates calling for Sarsour's release, welcomed the ruling.
The Trump administration has cracked down on pro-Palestinian voices and protesters by attempting to deport foreign protesters, threatening funding freezes for universities where protests were held and ordering the screening of immigrants' online comments, as the war in Gaza intensified. Trump claimed that pro-Palestinian voices were "antisemitic," while advocacy groups have stressed that the Trump administration is deliberately conflating criticism of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, which have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, with antisemitism. The measures have faced judicial obstacles.