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The president of Wisconsin\u2019s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations Thursday from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his criticism of Israel.<\/p>\n
Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who surrounded his car on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. <\/p>\n
Supporters called Thursday for his immediate release. His attorneys said he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat, a claim they say has no merit. <\/p>\n
Instead, they believe Sarsour, 53, was targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts, which have faced scrutiny<\/a> over allegations of limited due process<\/a> and high conviction rates of Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims. The offenses included allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli officers, according to attorney Munjed Ahmad.<\/p>\n \u201cOur government should not be doing the bidding of a foreign government,\u201d Ahmad said of Israel. \u201cThere\u2019s no question in my mind is that this is to stifle the discourse on the Palestinian narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorneys said Sarsour, born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has no criminal record in the U.S., where he has lived for more than 30 years. They said the U.S. government has known about Sarsour’s conviction in Israel since he came to the U.S. in 1993. <\/p>\n An email message left Thursday for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n