US Court Allows Deportation of Religious Leader Convicted of Terror in Israel

A U.S. federal court has ruled that the Trump administration can deport Saleh Sersour, identified as the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and head of the Grand Mosque of Wisconsin. The court found that Sersour poses a threat to American foreign policy, though it rejected the administration's claim that he lied on his residency application. Sersour, who was born in the West Bank, was imprisoned in Israel in 1988 after admitting to throwing a Molotov cocktail and stones at IDF soldiers. He was later convicted of attempted possession of weapons and ammunition. Sersour denies the charges, and his lawyers assert his confession was obtained under torture and coercion by Israeli authorities. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1993, he established himself as a prominent figure in his local community and has no prior criminal record in the United States. Sersour was arrested in Milwaukee in March by immigration enforcement and released in June. Following the court's decision, he stated that the ruling is disappointing and that he intends to appeal. "I will continue to fight to protect the right to freedom of expression and my right to stay in the country where I have lived for over three decades," he said, adding in a conversation with the Associated Press that "returning to the West Bank means the end of my life." The legal proceedings against Sersour are part of the Trump administration's stringent immigration policies, which have targeted residents involved in public activities against Israel over the past eighteen months.