A sweeping bipartisan housing bill passed through Congress earlier this week, with provisions aimed at making it easier to build new houses and rezone communities.
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The rate at which Wisconsin distributes too much or too little food assistance is among the lowest in the nation, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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The president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque has been released from immigration detention, after a federal judge’s order Thursday.
Salah Sarsour, who has been in custody in Indiana for more than two months, was released on personal recognizance because of “extraordinary circumstances,” wrote Judge James Patrick Hanlon, an appointee of President Donald Trump in the southern district of Indiana.
That includes concerns over Sarsour’s health as well as the possibility, raised by his attorneys, that he was targeted for immigration action on the basis of his pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Hanlon wrote that Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, must be returned to Wisconsin while his broader habeas petition moves through federal court and his immigration case moves through immigration court. In the habeas petition, Sarsour is alleging that his detention is unlawful.
“The Court does not decide the ultimate outcome of Mr. Sarsour’s First Amendment habeas claim or the merits of the charges of removability against him,” Hanlon wrote. “The Court only concludes, on the present record, that Mr. Sarsour has raised a ‘substantial’ First Amendment retaliation claim, which could render his detention unlawful.”
Lawyers for the government argued that, if Sarsour were to be released, it should be on cash bail and with an ankle monitor. Hanlon determined that “(s)uch conditions are not necessary here.”
“Sarsour has no history of non-compliance and is well established in the Milwaukee community,” Hanlon wrote. His “entire family lives in the United States and he has not traveled outside the United States since 1998.”
Sarsour, who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years, was arrested on March 30, and held in the Clay County Jail in Indiana.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security accused Sarsour of lying on his immigration forms after he immigrated from Ramallah in Palestinian territory. In a statement, DHS called Sarsour a “terrorist” who had thrown Molotov cocktails at Israeli military members and lied about it on his green card application.
His lawyers argue that Sarsour is being targeted for protected speech, including being a leader in Palestinian activism in recent years. Sarsour’s supporters acknowledge that he was convicted on those charges as a teenager growing up in the West Bank, but argue that the details were fabricated by the Israeli government.
In his order for release, Hanlon said those long-ago charges do not justify the government’s claim that Sarsour is now a risk to American safety. The government has “known about those charges for decades yet took no action to detain” Sarsour earlier, Hanlon wrote.
“Given Mr. Sarsour’s decades of living a law-abiding life in the United States and the long passage of time between his prior convictions, the Court finds Mr. Sarsour does not present a danger should he be released,” Hanlon wrote.
In a statement, Salah’s legal team said they are “ecstatic” about the decision.
“We will continue to fight the hyperbolic and ridiculous claims against Mr. Sarsour in court,” the statement reads. “But this is a day both to celebrate a family being reunited. It is also a sober reminder that, if the government can do this to Mr. Sarsour, then no one is safe from being punished for their speech.”
According to Sarsour’s legal team, Sarsour was released from jail at about 2:40 p.m. local time, about seven hours after Hanlon’s order came down. He was picked up by two of his sons. In photographs shared with WPR, Salah is clad in black and noticeably thinner. His legal team previously alleged that Sarsour, who is diabetic, had lost about 30 pounds while in custody.
Samuel Cole, an immigration attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which has supported Sarsour’s case, said that the judge’s order offers recognition of their argument that Sarsour is being targeted for free speech.
“I certainly think it’s a sobering reminder to all of us that this administration does not feel bound by the Constitution, and anyone who speaks out … is in danger of having their rights taken away,” Cole said.
Hanlon will consider Sarsour’s habeas petition next. He could either issue a ruling on its own, or call for an evidentiary hearing.
Separately, Sarsour’s next hearing in his immigration case is scheduled to take place in Chicago next week. In what Cole described as a highly unusual move, the judge in that case will be Jayme Salinardi, a Kansas City-based Assistant Chief Immigration Judge.
“I’m a former immigration judge myself, and the assignment of a new case to a very senior management judge in a different court — I’ve never heard of anything like this,” said Cole.
This story was originally published by WPR.
Milwaukee Muslim leader released from immigration detention after court ruling is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
The president of Wisconsin's largest mosque must be immediately released from detention as his immigration case moves forward, a federal judge ordered Thursday.
The post Milwaukee Muslim leader released from immigration detention after court ruling appeared first on WPR.
Minocqua Brewing Company, the business run by the controversy-courting Kirk Bangstad, is suing the Wisconsin Department of Revenue after the agency seized 1,200 cans of its beer last week.
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As Congress investigates a federal law from the 1960s, Wisconsin Republicans find themselves on different sides of the issue — and the Green Bay Packers are on edge.
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Salah Sarsour, the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, has lost 30 pounds in the two months that he’s been in immigration detention, his attorneys say.
Sarsour’s federal case, in which advocates say the legal permanent resident is being targeted because of his pro-Palestinian advocacy, proceeded with a status hearing in district court Monday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has accused Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, of lying on his immigration forms when he arrived from Ramallah three decades ago. He was arrested on March 30 and is being held in the Clay County Jail in Indiana.
Sarsour’s team has filed both a claim that Sarsour should be permanently freed, arguing that Sarsour’s overall detention is illegal, as well as a motion that he should be released sooner because of his deteriorating health. His lawyers also allege that his religious rights as a devout Muslim have been violated while in detention. In a letter filed to the court on May 29, Sarsour’s team said that Sarsour, who is diabetic, is not receiving regular blood sugar tests or medication. They also said that Sarsour’s ability to pray five times a day, in accordance with his faith, has been disturbed by guards.
“The continued detention of Mr. Sarsour—and his separation from his community and family—appears purely punitive; it continues to chill the speech of Mr. Sarsour and others seeking to speak out about Palestinian human rights,” the letter reads.
In a response, lawyers from the Department of Justice called those claims “unfounded.”
“(Sarsour’s) detention pending removal proceedings is entirely lawful and his belated conditions-based allegations do not support his request for release,” they wrote.
Attorneys reiterated these arguments on Monday before U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon, a nominee of President Donald Trump in the Southern District of Indiana.
Sarsour’s advocates said that he has not been provided with halal meals and that one diabetes-friendly snack he’d been offered was barbecue pork rinds, which many observant Muslims do not eat. Under those conditions, they said he had lost 30 pounds.
“Those are simply not adequate accommodations,” said one of his attorneys, Luna Droubi, on Monday.
Lawyers for the government refuted those claims. They said that Sarsour’s glucose had been checked daily for a week, until a doctor determined he only needed monthly checks. The attorney said that Sarsour’s glucose didn’t change in that time, that he is receiving daily diabetes medicine and a diabetes-responsive diet.
They also said that Sarsour was provided with an Arabic-language Quran by outside supporters and that his daily prayers are accommodated, but within “regular security measures within the jail.”
Judge Hanlon on Monday said he was “doing his best” to review those petitions quickly.
Sarsour was arrested shortly after leaving his home in Franklin on March 30. In a statement, DHS called Sarsour a “terrorist” who had thrown Molotov cocktails at Israeli military members and lied about it on his green card application.
Sarsour’s supporters have said he was convicted of that as a teenager growing up in the West Bank, but dispute the details of the charges, which they argue were fabricated by the Israeli government.
Shortly after he was arrested, lawyers filed a writ of habeas corpus, which argues that Sarsour, a Palestinian native and activist for Palestinian rights, had been targeted on the basis of First Amendment-protected free speech while in the United States.
“It is definitely part of a pattern by this government of pursuing immigration cases against people whose advocacy, whose beliefs, whose activism this government doesn’t like,” said Samuel Cole, chief immigration litigation counsel with the ACLU of Illinois, which is supporting Sarsour’s case.
But in the meantime, Cole argued, Sarsour’s treatment in county jail justifies immediate release.
“There are some pretty extraordinary things going on here that would justify his release before the district judge even makes a decision on the habeas petition,” Cole said. “There’s no way to remedy the fact that he’s now been in jail since March 30, so it’s over two months.”
Sarsour’s lawyers first filed a motion for Sarsour to be released on bail in late April, citing the “extraordinary” nature of his detention, as well as his medical conditions.
“Respondents can point to no act—even a pretextual one—committed in the last 30 years which would warrant his sudden arrest and detention today,” they wrote. “Instead, Mr. Sarsour was whisked away from his wife, kids, grandkids, and mother on a Monday morning while on his way to work.”
In response, the government argued that Sarsour is “deportable for several reasons completely unrelated to his speech.”
Separately, Sarsour’s immigration case continues to unfold. The next hearing in those proceedings will be on June 24.
This story was originally published by WPR.
Milwaukee Muslim leader has unmet medical, religious needs in immigration detention, lawyers say is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Attorneys for Jim Troupis, who served as President Donald Trump's 2020 Wisconsin campaign lawyer, are arguing that Troupis cannot receive a fair trial in Madison. They're asking for his criminal trial to be moved out of Dane County.
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Attorneys for Salah Sarsour say that he's lost 30 pounds while held in jail for the last two months. His immigration case remains ongoing.
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Rep. Francesca Hong, a leading Democratic candidate for governor, was recently sued over credit card debt.
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A liberal provocateur who on Monday turned in signatures to run for governor has hit a major roadblock after it was revealed that dozens of pages of signatures he submitted were invalid.
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Harry Wait was sentenced on Tuesday to three years of probation on election fraud and identity theft charges.
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Wisconsin candidates for governor are one step closer to getting on the ballot — and the crowded Democratic primary field remains robust.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the leading Republican candidate for governor, said he stands by his criticisms of a budget surplus deal that failed in the Legislature, despite widespread support for the bill in a new public poll.
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A failed deal on tax relief and school funding would have left Wisconsin in the red by billions of dollars, according to a memo released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
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