Muslim Legal Fund of America | DONATE NOW
Media Contact: Marium Uddin
Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (972) 331-9021
Website: mlfa.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 29, 2025
BREAKING NEWS: Today, MLFA and a coalition of attorneys filed a motion requesting a bond hearing for Marwan Marouf, a cherished Dallas community leader unjustly held in ICE detention since September 22, 2025.
The filing is backed by compelling evidence of Marwan’s eligibility for release, including letters recognizing his selfless service during crises and his unwavering commitment to his community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. An Immigration Judge will now review the evidence which MLFA believes demonstrates that Marwan should be released to reunite with his family and continue contributing to his community while his immigration case proceeds.
A bond hearing has been scheduled for October 6, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. before Immigration Judge Abdias E. Tida.
BACKGROUND: Marwan Marouf entered the United States lawfully in August 1991 as an international student, earning both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree before transitioning to a specialty-occupation visa that allowed him to build his career in the United States. His employer later sponsored him for permanent residence, and Marwan has consistently followed the strict legal process by applying for adjustment of status through Form I-485. Yet despite his decades of lawful presence and compliance, USCIS has continued to issue baseless accusations and unfounded conclusions to deny him a green card.
For over three decades, Marwan has resided peacefully in the United States with his wife and four sons. In this time, he has become a cornerstone of his community. For the people of Dallas – young and old alike – Marwan is a source of strength and inspiration for how to look out for neighbors and strangers alike. When disaster struck Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple winter freezes, Marwan was on the roads checking in on vulnerable families and delivering hot meals to first responders. He is a steadfast volunteer who can be found in the back doing the difficult, thankless tasks. He is “Uncle Marwan” to the many children he mentors, including members of the District 10 Boy Scout troop he co-founded.
On September 22, 2025, after dropping his youngest son at school, Marwan was abruptly surrounded by ICE agents, detained, and transported more than 200 miles away to Bluebonnet Detention Center. That same day, ICE served him with a USCIS decision denying his green card application. This was a near copy-and-paste of a decade-old denial letter making baseless accusations that Marwan once provided “material support” to the Holy Land Foundation (HLF).
When Marwan first applied for his green card, USCIS questioned him at length about his volunteer work and donations to HLF. In all his interactions with USCIS, Marwan was fully transparent, providing detailed evidence of the charitable purposes of the nominal donations and volunteer work he had done for HLF in the nineties. This volunteer work included ordering pizza and hiring a clown to entertain children while their parents attended HLF fundraising events. Marwan’s donations included sponsorship of an orphan in Palestine. And, yet, some thirty years later, the trigger for his placement in removal proceedings is that very same USCIS decision which penalized Marwan for ordinary acts of charity – acts which he considers obligatory to his faith.
The evidence is clear: Marwan should not be held in ICE custody. He poses no flight risk, no danger to anyone, and is instead a source of strength to a community that has benefited from his decades of civic engagement and selfless service. The government’s sudden move to detain him is not only pretextual but a direct affront to the due process protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and immigration law. Yet even in the face of unjust detention, Marwan remains steadfast in his resolve to fight for his rights – and MLFA, together with our coalition attorney team, will not rest until he is free and back where he belongs: with his family and his community.
