Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, unequivocally condemns the arrest and detention of Palestinian community leader Salah Sarsour, President of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 30, 2026. We demand his immediate release and call for the broadest mobilization in his defense. We express our strongest solidarity with Salah Sarsour and demand his return home to his loving family and community.
Donate to Salah Sarsour’s legal fund: https://www.launchgood.com/v4/campaign/salah_sarsour_justice_fund
Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian legal permanent resident, a husband, father and grandfather, who has lived in the United States for over 32 years, was seized by federal agents in a targeted and politically motivated arrest, sparking widespread outrage from community leaders, elected officials and human rights advocates. He has a spotless record and has raised six children, all U.S. citizens, while caring for his elderly mother.
His detention is part of a broader campaign of repression aimed at silencing Palestinian voices and criminalizing solidarity with Palestine, as in the cases of Mahmoud Khalil, Leqaa Kordia, Mahmoud Mahdawi, Rasmea Odeh, and others. The arrest of Salah Sarsour aims only to satisfy the Zionist entity, at the expense of the Palestinian community in the United States and the broader public.
This arrest is not about “immigration enforcement” but is instead an unvarnished act of political persecution. The allegations being used to justify his detention stem from decades-old accusations originating in Israeli military courts, illegitimate mechanisms of an unlawful occupation based on the torture and genocide of the Palestinian people. Indeed, as a teenager in the 1980s, Salah was tortured and abused by Israeli interrogators in the occupied West Bank for over 80 days. He is clearly and openly being targeted as a Palestinian torture survivor who continues to speak out for justice in Palestine, in an attempt to not only remove an effective leader but to strike fear into the hearts of the community.
This case is part of an escalating pattern: the weaponization of U.S. immigration law to target Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and all those who speak out against Zionism and imperialism. Salah Sarsour is being targeted because of his Palestinian identity and his advocacy for Palestinian rights.
The arrest of Salah Sarsour is an attack on the Palestinian community in the United States, and upon our movement as a whole. However, such attempts to intimidate and silence Palestinian leaders in exile and diaspora communities will only strengthen our resolve. Salah Sarsour is not alone; he stands as part of a global movement for justice, return, and liberation.
We call upon all people of conscience, organizations, and movements:
The detention of Salah Sarsour is an attack on the entire Palestinian people and all those who struggle for justice. It is a clear attempt to criminalize our narrative, our resistance, and our right to speak, and we are certain that when we act and mobilize, it will fail.
Free Salah Sarsour. Free all Palestinian prisoners. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Donate to Salah Sarsour’s legal fund: https://www.launchgood.com/v4/campaign/salah_sarsour_justice_fund
Read more about Salah’s case:
