We have spent the last month organizing in Wisconsin as a part of a multifaith, multiracial coalition to try to stop a bill that would use Jewish safety as an excuse to limit free speech. I’m so grateful for the Muslim, Arab, and Jewish leaders on the ground fighting for our shared safety.

Now, the Wisconsin community needs our help: last week, as many of us prepared for Passover, 12 ICE agents abducted community member, activist, father, and legal permanent resident, Salah Sarsour from his home in Milwaukee and brought him to a detention center in southern Indiana.

Like they have in the past, the Trump regime is falsely claiming his abduction was to advance Jewish safety.¹ We see this for what it is: the Trump regime using antisemitism as a smokescreen to detain our neighbors and crush our civil liberties.

Sign the Jewish petition: Release Salah Sarsour. We won’t be used to carry out Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

Mr. Sarsour is a beloved community member and neighbor. He is a green card holder whose wife and four children are all U.S. citizens. Regardless of anyone’s documentation status, no family deserves to be torn apart. Our laws require that everyone have their day in court.

So why is he is being targeted? Because he is the President of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, has spoken out for Palestinian human rights, and is a Palestinian American. And because the Trump regime is counting on enough Americans not to care — a big mistake.

We’ve seen this before. We saw this when the Trump regime targeted Mahmoud Khalil, Badar Khan Suri, and Rümeysa Öztürk, and when they created a new government surveillance policy in the false name of Jewish safety.² But his administration, which endangers Jewish life with Nazi salutes and its ties to the white nationalist movement, does not speak for us.

Not only does this regime not keep Jews safe, they threaten our Jewish community, and every community, by dismantling our democracy. Detaining Mr. Sarsour, or anyone for that matter, is just a cover for Trump to advance his authoritarian agenda.

Add your name: Join Jews across the country to demand that Salah Sarsour be released from custody and returned to his family immediately with his green card intact.

In solidarity,

Jillian Lipman 
Antisemitism Campaign Manager, Bend the Arc

P.S. If you or someone you know is a Wisconsin resident, sign and/or share this letter demanding Wisconsin officials do everything in their power to bring home Salah Sarsour. 

1. Arrest of Wisconsin Mosque Leader Was Tied to Trump Antisemitism Campaign, The New York Times
2. Jews didn’t ask for this: Trump’s new surveillance policy, Bend the Arc