9/24/25 Reposted from nbcdfw.com
Members of the North Texas Muslim community are in shock after attorneys for Marwan Marouf said he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after dropping off his son at school on Monday.
“The first reaction is just absolutely kind of shock, numb, not knowing what to think, there are no answers, especially with three younger siblings and the feeling of that responsibility and the unknown is very sudden and very swift,” said Marouf’s oldest son of four boys, Mohammed, who believes his father was unjustly arrested.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America said that while on his way to work, ICE agents stopped and detained the Dallas Muslim community leader early Monday morning.
“MLFA’s Immigration Litigation Department has been representing Brother Marwan for over six years in an effort to prove to USCIS (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Public Affairs) that he is eligible for lawful permanent residence,” said the group in a statement.
It continued that, “Marouf was handed a denial of his green card application on the same day he was detained, and that the decision reiterated prior findings from more than a decade ago.”
MLFA said it plans to challenge the ruling in both immigration and federal court.
According to his legal team, Marouf arrived in the United States more than 30 years ago, went to school in the states, got married, and has raised his family in the Dallas community.
“My dad has given his heart, his soul, his time, his everything for this community and not just the Dallas Muslim community but the Dallas Community as a whole,” said his son. “It’s just sad to see.”
While in North Texas, he has devoted his time to charitable causes, founded the Boy Scout Circle 10 District’s largest troop in North Dallas and held different drug awareness campaigns for the youth, according to MLFA.
“If there was one person that we be described as the pillar of the Muslim community as it stands today in Dallas, it would be this man Marwan Marouf who was picked up abducted by unjustly like so many others by ICE,” said Imam Omar Suleiman, the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. “This tactic of intimidation when you strike at the heart of the community and Marwan is the heart of the community.”
Marouf also spends his time volunteering with the Red Cross and is a Certified Disaster Relief First Responder, according to the legal group.
Originally, he arrived in the U.S. as an international student, and MLFA stated that Marouf initiated his immigration process in the early 1990s.
“His employer sponsored his temporary work and permanent residence applications for 15 years before USCIS started throwing up roadblocks by mischaracterizing his charitable efforts. USCIS gave him no answer about his pending green card application until the ICE officers who detained him handed him a decision denying his case dated that very same day. Shockingly, the denial consisted of USCIS’s recycled opinions from over a decade ago, and it completely ignored the facts and legal arguments that support Brother Marwan’s eligibility for a green card. This lack of fundamental fairness is an injustice that MLFA seeks to correct through fearless lawyering by our team of expert attorneys,” said MLFA in the statement.
According to the ICE Detainee Locator System, Marouf, who was born in Kuwait, is being held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, TX. It’s about three hours west of Dallas.
NBC 5 put in a request to ICE on Tuesday morning for a statement regarding the arrest.
Tuesday night, members in the community held a gathering at MAS, Muslim Association Society Chapter of Dallas in Richardson, to address his detention and discuss the next steps.
Marouf sits on the board for MAS as head of public relations and the fundraising director.
“Marwan has been a source of guidance, compassion, and service to our community for decades. His presence has uplifted countless individuals and families, and his absence is deeply felt. This arrest is not just a personal loss to his loved ones, including his wife and sons, but a wound to our entire community,” said MAS in a statement.
