(RNS) — A federal immigration judge ruled to deport Marwan Marouf, a Dallas Muslim community leader arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in late September. The 54-year-old, who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, could be deported to Jordan within the next two weeks, the prosecutor told the court on Thursday (Nov. 20).
Marouf, who is being held at the Bluebonnet detention center in Anson, Texas, appeared at the virtual hearing without testifying out of concerns for his health, his lawyers said.
Born in Kuwait, Marouf is a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian heritage. He was arrested on his way to work by ICE agents on Sept. 22, after his green card was denied over past donations to the Holy Land Foundation, a defunct Muslim charity whose leaders were convicted of having ties with Hamas. It closed in 2001.
During the final hearing, immigration Judge Abdias Tida denied Marouf’s request for a voluntary departure, which would have let him leave the country on his own terms and have more options to return to the U.S. legally.
Marouf won’t appeal the decision, his lawyer, Marium Uddin, legal director of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, told the court. He accepted he would have to leave the U.S., which was the fruit of prayer and a long spiritual reflection, she said.
He accepted the decision “not as an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing bu …