U.S. Orders Jordanian Grad Student Deported

[Aviyah]

Associated Press
Sunday, February 9, 2003; Page A26


DALLAS, Feb. 8 -- A federal judge has ordered the deportation of a Jordanian graduate student who acknowledged he once considered b becoming a suicide bomber if the United States invadesIraq.

"I was looking at America as my enemy. If someone would have approached me and asked me to do something against the country, I was willing to do it," Tahir Ibrihim Aletwei said at his deportation hearing Friday


Aletwei, 30, said he has changed his views and confessed to help U.S. authorities better guard against people like himImmigration Judge D. Anthony Rogers ordered Aletwei deported by the end of next week.

"I abhor the thought processes that you acknowledge," the judge said. "The issue we have in this nation since 9/11 is we want to act on the side of caution, and it will be necessary to send you home."

Aletwei, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, arrived in the United States in August 2001 as part of a Jordanian-sponsored student exchange program. He is three months shy of earning a master's degree in software engineering.

The FBI and INS have refused to say what led them to Aletwei, who was arrested Jan. 31 and charged with violating provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Violators are subject to deportation

Aletwei told the FBI he was involved in terrorism and that his desire to become a martyr was sown in his home country.

"In my mind, I was doing a noble thing," said Aletwei, who had waived his right to an attorney and was representing himself in court



more here

they should have done more than deport him they should have held him as a enemy combatant,

 

[Dewjunkie]

Originally posted by Soldier_of _God
they should have done more than deport him they should have held him as a enemy combatant,

Why?  He didn't do anything other than admit he thought about it.  He is a national of one of our middle eastern allies, not quite the enemy.  He expressed his freedom of speech, and in this day and age that particular speech will get him sent home.  Had he been caught in a bank with a belt of TNT, it would be a different story.  I think deportation is plenty.   

 

[fragmentsofdreams]

To be an enemy combatant, one has to actually fight. Deportation is more than enough for this individual.

 

[Talmid HaYarok]

So much for freedom of speech, eh?

Aletwei, 30, said he has changed his views and confessed to help U.S. authorities better guard against people like himImmigration Judge D. Anthony Rogers ordered Aletwei deported by the end of next week.

There's a big difference between actually thinking of a crime and planning one. Sounds like this guy thought about it, said no, but was a bit too honest about his thoughts for the sake of some people.

Honestly, if this guy had been a U.S. citizen nothing probably would have happened to him. I could perhaps see the merits for and against a policy of getting rid of people who might consider acts of violence (though in all honesty all we probably get is a bunch of more determined liars who are no longer open enough to be talked out of it), but when selectively applied it just becomes nationalism.