Lawyers seek release for Wisconsin mosque leader over diabetes care

Salah Sarsour’s lawyers asked a federal judge to free the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, saying his Type 2 diabetes has gone inadequately monitored in ICE custody and he has lost 30 pounds since his March 30 arrest. They say Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years, is being held at the Clay County Jail in Indiana while his immigration case moves forward.

His legal team filed both a challenge to the legality of his detention and a separate request for earlier release based on his worsening health. The lawyers say Sarsour’s blood sugar is not being checked consistently, that medication has been delayed or missed, and that the lack of care could lead to organ failure or death. They also say he has been denied halal meals and other religious accommodations, including regular time to pray five times a day.

At a status hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon in the Southern District of Indiana, the court raised questions about the medical care Sarsour is receiving, according to his attorney, Luna Droubi. The Department of Justice called the allegations unfounded and argued that detention pending removal proceedings is lawful. The Department of Homeland Security has accused Sarsour of lying on immigration forms when he arrived from Ramallah decades ago.

The case has become a test of how far detention authorities must go to protect people with chronic illnesses. Courts typically look at whether officials were deliberately indifferent to a serious medical need, a standard that can turn a routine custody dispute into a constitutional one when treatment is ignored or dangerously delayed. Sarsour’s lawyers say his condition meets that threshold because the absence of regular monitoring and treatment has already left him visibly weakened.

The dispute also lands amid broader accusations that ICE custody is failing people with medical conditions. An AP and KFF Health News investigation published June 2 found that roughly 33,000 detainee habeas cases filed from Jan. 20, 2025 through March 2026 included about 500 potentially alleging medical neglect, with hundreds of detainees in at least 33 states saying they were denied or delayed care for diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, HIV, infections and depression. The report said more than 75,000 immigrants were being detained by ICE as of mid-January 2026, up from around 40,000 a year earlier, and that DHS had reported 51 deaths in detention since the start of Trump’s second administration.

Outside the courtroom, pressure has intensified. The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged Sarsour’s immediate release on June 5, calling the reported neglect alarming and unacceptable. His supporters say the case is not only about one man’s health, but about whether immigration detention can meet the basic duty of care owed to people whose lives depend on consistent treatment.