Faith groups, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and other leaders continue to demand the immediate release of Salah Sarsour. The president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee was taken into custody by ICE agents in Milwaukee on March 30.
Sarsour is a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the U.S. Local officials and religious leaders argue that Sarsour’s arrest was motivated by his statements against Israel. His attorneys say he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat — a claim they say has no merit.
The Department of Homeland Security alleges Sarsour was funding terror organizations and lied on immigration forms.
One of the people calling for Sarsour’s release is Janan Najeeb, the executive director of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition. Najeeb talked with WUWM's Race & Ethnicity Reporter Teran Powell about what it means to see ICE take a faith leader like Sarsour into custody.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Janan Najeeb: It signals that we have an administration that really has utter disregard for real law and order and for the rights of citizens as well as the rights of permanent residents. They have rights as well. It has utter disregard for people that have been incredibly important to the communities that they live in and society at large. This is an individual who is not just a faith leader. He's a father, he's a grandfather, he's a businessman who has employed over the years many, many individuals. He’s a contributing member of society and he's a philanthropist. And this utter disregard just simply because of his political position — make no mistake, Salah Sarsour is a political prisoner.
Teran Powell: Have we seen this elsewhere — faith leaders being targeted by ICE?
Najeeb: I think that Salah Sarsour is probably the most high-profile individual that has been detained especially as a faith leader and especially for someone that has been a permanent resident for over three decades. I believe this is unprecedented.
In your circles with other faith leaders, are you all having conversations about the risk?
I think we are beyond the concern about risk to ourselves. I think we're in a position of outrage because now it's a matter of really a dismantling of the constitutional rights and civil rights and law and order in this country. We're dealing with an administration that has just literally gone rogue, and I think that beyond our concern for our individual selves is concern for what's happening to our country and what's happening to our neighbors across the board. And the amount of support that continues to pour in for Salah — and the anger that is coming from all over, all facets of Wisconsin, all areas of Wisconsin, and as well as around the country — is indicative of populations that are just sick and tired of what is happening and the sheer lack of decorum and lack of following rules and orders that have for centuries in this country really been in place.
Do you think there is enough outrage to change what we see happening?
We hope so. We hope so. I think... there are going to be people in the Black and brown communities that continue to be fearful, but I think that our faith communities, leaders, regular citizens across the board are ready to really hit the streets to march, to protest. When you have eight million people in the United States coming out to [No Kings Protests] to protest this administration, that should tell us something.
Najeeb referred to the recent No Kings rallies, which organizers say attracted 8 million people.
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