Immigration judge orders removal of beloved Dallas community leader

A Houston, Texas, immigration court judge on Thursday ordered the removal of Marwan Marouf, a Muslim, Dallas-area leader, renowned for decades of community service. The decision concluded the final merits hearing of his immigration case and marked the 60th day of his detention at the Bluebonnet Detention Center.

Judge Abdias E. Tida brought the decision to remove Marouf to Jordan, where he has citizenship, after 30 minutes of deliberation and an hourslong hearing. He denied Marouf’s new request for a grant of voluntary departure, arguing that the government’s charges that Marouf engaged in terrorist activity made him ineligible. Tida, while sympathetic to concerns of Marouf’s health, also found that he did not have the authority to compel the government to remove him as soon as possible, per the request of Marouf’s legal team.

Marouf is legally ineligible for all forms of voluntary departure, Tida said, and even if he were eligible under the law, the court finds he does not merit it despite any positive qualities he’s shown.

A convoy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles detained Marouf the morning of Sept. 22, just days after the government denied his application for permanent residence. He received a notice to appear that accused him of overstaying his visa, an allegation the government later updated to claim he had re-entered the country without a valid visa following a 2011 trip abroad.

Ahead of an Oct. 23 hearing, the government brought new charges, alleging Marouf had knowingly solicited funds for and provided material support to a Tier III terror organization while volunteering for the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim nonprofit in the country, in the ’90s. Marouf’s lawyers, family and friends deny all of the claims as false.

“We know without a doubt that Brother Marwan’s case is winnable, truly, on the merits,” Noor Wadi, a criminal defense lawyer, friend of Marouf and co-leader of the Justice for Marwan campaign, told Salon. “He is a man who has always complied with immigration law, and this whole case is conjecture.” But “what it came down to is ensuring Brother Marwan’s physical well-being was prioritized,” despite that fact, she added.

Though Marouf’s legal team had previously told Salon it intended to “seek every form of relief (resulting in his green card)” during the hearing, lead counsel Marium Uddin told the judge Thursday that Marouf had earlier decided to withdraw his applications for permanent residence and cancellation of his removal, citing his deteriorating health in the Anson, Texas, ICE facility. Marouf has multiple life-threatening medical conditions, including Brugada syndrome, a serious heart condition marked by irregular rhythm that stress can worsen.

Instead, Marouf sought a post-conclusion voluntary departure, which would allow him to leave the country in a set period of time at his own expense, reapply for entry to the U.S. sooner than if he were deported and avoid having a removal order on his record. The government, though agreeing he should be eligible, asked the judge to deny his request. Marouf ultimately declined to appeal Tida’s ruling due to his health.

“Marwan Marouf accepted a removal order — not as an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing but as a decision born of impossible circumstances imposed by a system that has failed him at every turn,” Uddin, legal director for the Muslim Legal Fund of America, told Salon in a statement. His decision, she said, is instead an “act of dignity” and “self-preservation.”

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“Marwan’s detention and removal represent a profound loss — not just for his family, but for the community he has served faithfully for over three decades. It is 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,” she added, calling the case “a cautionary tale about what happens when systems collapse, when legal processes are weaponized, and when entire communities are treated as suspect simply for existing. It is a stain on our legal and moral fabric that cannot be undone by the next election or the next memo.”

Counsel for the government said Thursday that Marouf could be removed to Jordan within the next two weeks, agreeing that he should be removed as soon as possible.

In a statement posted to Instagram, the Justice for Marwan campaign, which organized for his release, renewed its commitment to fighting for him and other community members facing immigration enforcement action.

“We will not abandon our people,” the group said. “Whether Marwan is in ICE prison or free in another country, we will continue to fight for him and for all those facing unjust exile and wrongful incarceration.

“We will not allow the state to erase their stories,” it continued. “And we will continue to organize, pray, advocate and stand shoulder-to-shoulder until justice prevails.”