Leader of Local Muslim Community Will be Deported After 60 Day Detention

Attorneys for Marwan Marouf, the North Texas man known for his involvement in the Muslim community and his leading of Boy Scout troops in Richardson, say they are heartbroken after Marouf accepted a removal order after 60 days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. 

According to KERA, the order for Marouf’s deportation was issued on Thursday afternoon after a judge denied his voluntary departure request, which would have allowed Marouf to leave the country of his own volition and reapply for legal entry. Attorneys said they will not appeal the decision, and KERA reports that Marouf will be deported to Jordan, where he maintains citizenship, within the next two weeks. 

The decision to accept the removal order is not an admission of guilt, said his attorney, Marium Uddin, a legal director of the Muslim Legal Fund of America. Instead, she described Marouf’s decision to leave the United States, where he has lived for 30 years, as a “decision born of impossible circumstances imposed by a system that has failed him at every turn.” 

The father of four was arrested by ICE agents in September after dropping his son off at school, but his legal team has repeatedly sought a release from detention on humanitarian grounds due to Marouf’s heart condition, Brugada syndrome, which can be fatal. Uddin told the Observer last month that nurses usually monitor Marouf’s pacemaker, care that could not be administered while in ICE custody.   

“Our appeals for his humanitarian release thus far have not been heard, and the protraction of custody has taken its toll on him as it would on anyone who has lived a full, vibrant life as a model citizen of this country for 35 years,” Uddin told the court Thursday. “The physical strain and emotional toll in Marwan’s case create a layer of unsafety around him.”

Marouf did not testify before the court yesterday, citing concerns that the stress of appearing in court would further strain his health. 

According to attorneys, Marouf has spent decades applying for legal residency in the U.S.; on the day his green card application was formally denied, he was arrested by ICE and charged with overstaying his visa. That charge is “improper and inaccurate,” attorneys say, because it labels Marouf an “arriving alien” rather than a person seeking residency status. 

Twenty-nine members of the Texas House of Representatives signed a letter asking for Marouf’s release from detention. Still, Department of Homeland Security officials complicated the case by introducing charges that accused Marouf of soliciting funds for a terrorist organization. According to DHS, Marouf volunteered with the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a major Islamic charity, which was designated a terrorist organization by the federal government in 2001. 

Attorneys for Marouf say his volunteer work predated the designation, and civil rights groups have criticized the trial against the organization for being discriminatory. Still, Judge Abdias E. Tida cited the severity of the charge in denying Marouf’s request to voluntarily leave the U.S. 

“My hands are tied,” the judge told the court. 

“It’s easy to say Marwan has lost America. But the truth cuts the other way: America has lost Marwan, and in doing so, has lost a piece of its own promise,” Uddin said. “He is a person we should have safeguarded and not sacrificed. Please do accept my comments as an indictment of our current system.”