A Dallas Muslim community leader will be deported after an immigration judge ruled he provided “material support” to the Holy Land Foundation, the Richardson-based charity whose leaders were convicted in a major terrorism financing case.
Marwan Marouf, 54, a Jordanian national who has lived in the United States for roughly 30 years, has served as the public relations and fundraising director for the Muslim-American Society’s DFW chapter. He has been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since September.
The Dallas Express previously reported that ICE arrested Marouf in September and charged him with lacking a valid entry document, soliciting funds for a Tier III undesignated terrorist organization, and providing “material support” to terrorism.
Marouf was initially charged with overstaying his visa. In recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security filed additional allegations accusing him of soliciting funds for a terrorist organization, according to KERA.
During a hearing last Thursday, Immigration Judge Abdias E. Tida denied Marouf’s request for voluntary departure, citing donations he allegedly made to the Holy Land Foundation. Attorneys argued he should be granted post-conclusion voluntary departure to address an urgent cardiac condition — Brugada syndrome — before leaving the country. Tida rejected the request.
“Even if the respondent were statutorily eligible, the court finds that he does not merit discretion … considering the gravity of the evidence in the record,” Tida said, according to KERA.
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