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>> After 80 days in federal
custody, Salah Sarsour, a

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green card holder and
president of the Islamic

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Society of Milwaukee, was
released from a facility in

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Indiana. Sarsour was
arrested in a targeted

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operation on March 30th
when he was surrounded by

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Ice agents, the U.S.
Department of Homeland

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Security, in a press
release called Sarsour a

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criminal and a terrorist,
alleging crimes committed

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in Israel more than 30
years ago prior to coming

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to the U.S. and of which he
denies. Secretary of State

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Marco Rubio is reported to
have said that Sarsour,

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quote, poses an adverse
consequence to foreign

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policy considerations.
Sarsour is outspoken about

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the mistreatment of
Palestinians in Gaza by

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Israel. In the order
granting the motion for his

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release, a federal judge
stated, quote, Mr. Sarsour

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has raised a substantial
First Amendment retaliation

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claim which could render
his detention unlawful.

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Here to discuss the case is
a member of Sarsour's legal

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team. Sam Kohl, an attorney
with the ACLU of Illinois

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who is also a former
immigration judge. Sam,

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thanks for joining us.
>> Thanks for having me.

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>> You're familiar with the
arguments raised by the

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Trump administration
against Salah Sarsour. The

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secretary of state himself
said that he posed an

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adverse consequence to
foreign policy

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considerations. Were there
grounds to arrest and

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detain him?
>> No. Absolutely not. Mr.

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Sarsour has been a
upstanding person in the

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United States since he came
here over 30 years ago. He

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is a grandfather of nine US
citizen kids and has had

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absolutely no trouble in
the United States. The only

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reason he was arrested was
because he's an outspoken

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advocate for Palestinian
human rights, and that's

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why he's been targeted by
this administration. And

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that is absolutely not an
appropriate and lawful

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reason to arrest someone.
>> So what were conditions

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like for Mr. Sarsour in
jail?

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>> They're pretty bad. He
lost 30 pounds during the

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time that he was there.
He's also he also has some

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medical problems. He's a
type two diabetic, and his

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doctor required that he
have daily glucose, blood

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glucose monitoring. And he
was getting tested once a

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month. So that's that's not
great. And that could

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really pose some serious
risks to his health.

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>> Was there a chance he
could have been deported?

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>> So the case is ongoing.
Right. So he so he has been

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released from detention
based on our motion in

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front of a federal district
court judge. So Mr. Sarsour

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filed a petition for a writ
of habeas corpus, asking

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the federal judge to
release him from from the

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immigration detention. And
the judge hasn't ruled on

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that habeas petition quite
yet. But he did grant an

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interim release of Mr.
Sarsour while the court

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adjudicates the habeas
petition by saying that

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he's made a strong showing
that he might prevail in in

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the habeas petition. But
that doesn't mean the

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immigration case is over.
So Mr. Sarsour is still

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fighting deportation in
immigration court, and

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that's ongoing.
>> Okay. You're a former

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immigration judge yourself.
You've said this case is

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highly unusual. You've
never seen anything like it.

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How much of the case is
outside the bounds of what

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you'd normally see?
>> I was an immigration

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judge in the Chicago
immigration court for nine

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years, and I handled,
actually, a detained docket.

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That's a docket of
individuals who are in

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immigration custody. So
very similar to the

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situation that Mr. Sarsour
was in. And Mr. Sarsour's

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case is, in fact, in the
Chicago immigration court.

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And I can tell you, for one,
I have never seen anything

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like this at all. The first
of all, the the primary

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charge against him is, as
you noted, that letter from

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of Secretary of State Marco
Rubio saying that. NewsHour.

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Suarez really lawful
activity in the United

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States poses a foreign
policy risk to the United

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States. Now that that is
highly unusual and highly

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legally dubious. But the
other thing that is

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extraordinary about this
case is although the case

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is is assigned to the
Chicago immigration court,

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the judge that was assigned
to hear the case is not a

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Chicago immigration court
judge. It's actually a very

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senior level management
judge in the in the

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executive Office for
Immigration Review. It's

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the an acting regional
deputy chief immigration

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judge. It's essentially the
second in command of all

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the judges in the entire
immigration court system.

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So that case was plucked
out of the immigration

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court judges and
specifically assigned to

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this one management judge.
I've never seen that happen.

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>> So I gather you feel
like you have a strong,

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strong First Amendment case
here that his rights, your

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client's rights were
violated. Can you explain

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that?
>> Absolutely. Mr. Sarsour,

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as a longtime permanent
resident of the United

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States, has the same First
Amendment rights to speak

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and to engage in political
activity and political

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activism that that
essentially you and I do as

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citizens of the United
States. And so what's

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really happening is, is the
government is, is targeting

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him because they don't like
his speech. And that is is

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highly problematic. It is
it violates the

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Constitution, the First
Amendment. And, and we're

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very concerned to see this,
this these charges against

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him by the administration.
>> So you mentioned this,

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that this case is not over.
You have hearings coming up.

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How does this proceed? What
happens next?

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>> So there's another
hearing coming up. The at

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the end of July, July 22nd,
in the immigration court,

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where the government has
the burden of proof. In

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this case, they have to
prove the charges that that

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they have made against him.
And and aside from the

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charges, based on the Marco
Rubio determination about

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foreign policy, there are
some other charges that

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relate to things that have
been decades and decades

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ago, things the government
has known about for a very

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long time. And, you know,
we are we will fight these

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charges. We we are he has
very good defenses, and we

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are fighting them in
immigration court. And if

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we lose in immigration
court, we will continue our

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fight all the way up as far
as it takes, because

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everyone knows what's going
on here. It's not about

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anything that happened
decades ago. It's about

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what he's doing now, his
speech. And that's why he's

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being that's why he's being
targeted.

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>> All right. We'll be
>> All right. We'll be