IMMIGRATION UPDATES & NEWS

San Diego Federal Immigration Judge Grants Son of Hamas Leader Political Asylum

Jul 1, 02:14 PM

A San Diego judge at an immigration court in Otay Mesa granted asylum today to Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas’ leader, who admitted to spying for Israel for ten years in his book Son of Hamas.

Supporters of Yousef worried that today’s hearing would result in Yousef’s deportation to Israeli or Palestinian territory, where he might face lethal reprisal for his betrayal of Hamas.

On The Huffington Post, Noa Tishby wrote, “He has been a model immigrant: productive, upright, and fully embracing the American ideals of toleration and individual liberty. Yet because his application for refugee status is denied, a federal immigration judge in San Diego may today elect to force him to return to Israel or the Palestinian territories, where he will be a marked man.”

Fears of deportation were not unfounded. U.S. courts had previously denied all attempts by Yousef to obtain status as a political refugee. Appeals from Yousef’s supporters in the U.S. Congress, the Israeli Knesset, and the American Christian community probably contributed in part to the U.S. government, represented by an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, dropping its objection to granting asylum.

According to reporting by the San Diego U-T, Yousef, who converted from Islam to Christianity, originally moved to San Diego in 2007 because of a connection to “Christian missionaries from a local church [he met] while he was still in Israel.”

His supporters are relieved that this intriguing man of complex origins and loyalties will now be guaranteed the measure of safety provided by his continued, authorized residence in the United States. Still, as his life story thus far indicates, very little about this man is guaranteed.