Texas Muslim Community Leader Ordered Deported Amid Fears of Profiling and Politicized Enforcement

Texas Muslim Community Leader Ordered Deported Amid Fears of Profiling and Politicized Enforcement
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A longtime North Texas Muslim community leader has been deported after a U.S. immigration judge ruled that he provided “material support” to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a charity the U.S. designated a terrorist organization in 2001.

The decision finalizes the case of Marwan Marouf, 52, who has lived in the United States for more than two decades and was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September.

According to court documents cited by KERA News, the judge denied Marouf’s request for voluntary departure and found him deportable to Jordan, his country of citizenship. His legal team said they will not appeal due to limited legal pathways and Marouf’s deteriorating health.

Marouf’s supporters argue that the government’s case relies on old donations and community work done years before HLF was designated, and they say no evidence has been presented showing Marouf knowingly supported wrongdoing. Civil-rights advocates describe the case as part of a longstanding pattern of surveillance and immigration enforcement disproportionately affecting Muslim nonprofits and immigrant leaders, particularly since the post-9/11 crackdown on Muslim charities.

Community members note that Marouf helped establish youth programs, organized disaster-relief initiatives, and was widely considered a stabilizing figure in local mosques. Editorials in the Dallas Morning News and Texas Observer raised concerns that ICE’s actions reflect a “criminalization of Muslim civic life” and the use of immigration law as a tool of profiling.