Dems Rush to Block ICE Deportation of Terror Connected President of Milwaukee Islamic Society
The American Muslims for Palestine organizer lied about his criminal past to enter the U.S. decades ago, and continues activism related to his crimes.
The high-profile Milwaukee arrest of Salah Salem Sarsour—suspected of funding terror organizations and lying on immigration forms—has sent the Left's propaganda machine into overdrive to protect him. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) announced Sarsour’s arrest in an April 2, statement, saying, “This ‘Palestinian community leader’ is a convicted criminal who LIED on his immigration forms.”
Sarsour is president of the Milwaukee Islamic Society and a board member at American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) which keeps him in the national spotlight as a Muslim leader in the U.S. He has planned and promotes AMP’s annual national Palestine Convention.
@ampalestine 🇵🇸 Special message from Convention Chairman Salah Sarsour. 🎟️ Get your tickets today @ PalestineConvention.org. 🎁 Use promo code AMP20 for a special discount. #fyp #world #humanity ♬ original sound - American Muslims for Palestine
Wisconsin Democrats and their partners in the press have rushed to sanitize Sarsour’s reputation using the racism play and objecting to ICE. Supporters don’t seem bothered by Sarsour’s troubling connections to Hamas. They want you to know he is a married father (of grown adult children) who has lived on U.S. soil for 33 years.
He lied on his paperwork to get into the U.S., ICE says. He would not have been allowed to live here if he had been honest.
National Security Risk
“Salah Salem Sarsour is a terrorist convicted for throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces. This illegal alien from Jordan lied on his green card application to gain legal status in the U.S.," Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in the statement.
Sarsour’s application for an immigrant visa was denied at the American Consulate in Jerusalem, due to his convictions in Israel for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the homes of Israeli armed forces and illegally attempting to possess weapons and ammunition.
“He ultimately entered the United States in 1993—under the Clinton administration—as a conditional resident. After lying on his application, he became a green card holder in 1998 under President Clinton,” the DHS statement said. “This arrest is an example of what the media counts as a ‘non-criminal’ arrest because this terrorist lacks a criminal rap sheet in the U.S.”
The federal government has reason to believe that Sarsour is a national security risk. He is being held in ICE custody at Clay County Detention Center in Indiana pending removal proceedings.
A team of well-funded lawyers are working to get Sarsour out of detention, including the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), and Attorney Hassan M. Ahmad who has partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in previous cases.
Alleged ‘Financial Bundler’
The DOJ has sealed most of Sarsour’s court filings in this ICE case, but he is a prominent figure—although not a defendant—in a separate, $156 million civil lawsuit that seeks payment from people connected to groups funding Hamas. That case also has some sealed files on the same dates as filings in Sarsour’s ICE case.
Sarsour was questioned in Chicago on Jan. 30, 2024, in a four-hour deposition related to the civil case. He is also mentioned in other witness testimony, and is described in the civil complaint this way:
Salah Sarsour. Sarsour was a financial bundler for [Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)]. He was imprisoned in Israel in 1995 for activities on behalf of Hamas. His furniture business in Wisconsin passed money to a known Hamas member. Sarsour is currently a board member and important fundraiser for [American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)]. He was chairman of the 2014- and 2015-AMP conference committees. His business is a donor to AMP and [Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation (AJP)].
The civil case was brought in 2017 by Stanley and Joyce Boim on behalf of their son David, who was murdered in 1996 by two agents of Hamas, court papers say. David Boim was 17 in 1996. He was standing with a group of classmates at a bus stop in Israel heading to Jerusalem to attend a class, when a car drove up and a Hamas gunman shot at the group, hitting David in the head. He died the next day.
The parents first went to court in 2000 seeking damages. In 2004, they were awarded a $156 million judgment “against individuals and organizations who financed the murder of their son.
Organizations that collaborated in supporting Hamas in the United States include the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF); the American Muslim Society (AMS); and AMS’s alter egos operating under the name Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), according to the complaint.
“When time came to pay the Boim Judgment, AMS and IAP claimed to be out of business with few assets as a result of the burden of the Boim Judgment and associated litigation costs. HLF had ceased operations, and its assets had been seized by the United States. HLF and several of its leaders were subsequently convicted of terrorist activity,” the complaint reads.
“Seemingly, the Boim Action brought an end to these organizations. But that was not the case. In fact, these Boim Defendants are in business today . . . through their alter egos and successors, defendants AMP and AJP. AMP and AJP were established by the former leaders of HLF, AMS and IAP . . . in order to continue the same enterprise and agenda, while avoiding the burden of the Boim Judgment and the ignominy of having been found liable for aiding and abetting the murder of an American teenager.”
Hamas Support in Milwaukee
Sarsour and the Milwaukee Islamic Center are also mentioned in a 2001 memo sent to Richard Newcomb, then-director the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control in the Department of Treasury. The memo from Dale L. Watson Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said the FBI had information showing the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD or HLF) ats on behalf of Hamas and that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Sarsour’s brother is quoted in the memo, saying Salah Sarsour and others connected to the Milwaukee Islamic Center raised money for HLF which is actually Hamas.
Propaganda media has somehow missed Sarsour’s Hamas connections, focusing instead on bashing ICE and amplifying the cries from his community begging for his release.
Sarsour has been living in a $1 million mansion in Franklin, where the median household income is $107,000, compared to $84,000 nationally. The five-bedroom, 5,668-square foot home boasts a pool with a slide in the back, and an ADT security sign out front. He has a professionally landscaped yard, and delinquent taxes. Sarsour has not paid property taxes on his home since 2024 and owes Milwaukee County $19,500.
Rules Don’t Apply
Elected officials, Democratic candidates, and the compliant press have rallied to support Sarsour, painting him as a beloved community figure and a victim. Incredibly, the New York Times reports that his arrest is tied to Trump’s “antisemitism campaign.”
Mandela Barnes, who is seeking the Democrat primary nomination for governor, said Sarsour’s arrest is “inexcusable,” and called ICE a “rouge police force.” It’s not surprising—Barnes is a “defund the police” guy.
The arrest of Salah Sarsour is inexcusable. pic.twitter.com/6DeI5YBp9t
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) April 2, 2026
Apparently running as a Democrat for governor means blindly supporting Sarsour without gathering facts about his case. Candidate Francesca Hong is using the moment to smear ICE as “weaponized.”
Our Sustainer Sunday goal is 50 new monthly donors by the end of April.
— Francesca Hong For Governor (@FrancescaHongWI) April 5, 2026
Will you become one of them today?https://t.co/1HJezADAkA
Rep. Gwen Moore (D) broadcasts that ICE is “politically motivated.” She is certain that Sarsour’s skin and political beliefs made him a target. Moore does not hint at investigating the facts of the case but promises she will do everything in her power to get him back to his community.
— Rep. Gwen Moore (@RepGwenMoore) April 2, 2026
Whack-a-doodle Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) is also sure Sarsour’s skin color (which appears white), or his faith is behind the detention.
Salah is here lawfully and has been a productive member of our community for 30 years. This looks like ICE targeting someone because of their skin color or what they believe – and that is not the American way.
— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) April 3, 2026
This doesn’t make us safer.
We need answers why ICE targeted Salah. https://t.co/ztoDbv4jhh
Islamic Society of Milwaukee has started an online fundraiser to support his legal fund.
But when someone lies about their past, it catches up with them—maybe immediately or sometimes decades later. Sarsour never disclosed that he committed a violent crime before entering the U.S., according to ICE. That should have disqualified him from becoming a citizen, but he didn’t let the rules apply to him. Same thing with his property taxes.
It does not matter that Sarsour built a nice life for himself, now we are supposed to feel bad for him.
While the U.S. bombs Iran, a country known to fund Hamas terrorism, it makes sense to deport someone who committed a violent crime against Hamas’ enemies, lied about it to the government, is alleged to have raised money for Hamas and so fervently supports Hamas’ violent agenda.
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