When I saw Marwan Marouf’s face plastered on my Instagram feed, under bright red letters announcing he’d been arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the first thing I remembered was his distinctive, gentle voice.

For nearly three decades, Brother Marwan, as we know him, has been a constant presence in our community. Long before the Dallas area attracted thousands of Muslims and high-profile religious leaders, we grew up in small congregations, and people like Marouf led prayers and delivered short sermons to a few-dozen families now and then. He’d arrived in the city in the ’90s as a student, and he later worked as an engineer at the same company as my dad and some of my friends’ parents. 

Once, in high school, during late evening Ramadan prayers, I fell asleep while he was giving a lecture, lulled into a sense of peaceful drowsiness. In the women’s section of the mosque, there was a running joke that the mics weren’t strong enough to amplify Marouf’s soft-spoken delivery. I remember being annoyed that I had missed most of his sermon, as he’d been coming around to our masjid less frequently, since there were dozens of them now to rotate between. His sermons were almost always uplifting reminders about how to live more compassionately and generously at a time when it felt like both these forces were dwindling in our society.

Marouf, who is Palestinian, had been seeking permanent legal status since 2012 after receiving student and work visas, according to his lawyers in a press release, but he was first denied a green card in 2020. On September 22, ICE informed him he was denied again, his lawyers say, based on a decades-old claim that Marouf—through his support for the Palestinian-led charity the Holy Land Foundation—had supported terrorist activities. ICE arrested him that day, and he’s since been detained at the notorious Bluebonnet detention facility some 200 miles away from home. The Muslim Legal Fund for America (MLFA), which is handling his case, declined to comment for this story as he awaits a bond hearing, but the group has said that Marouf’s arrest and detention are “a direct affront to the due process protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”

Marouf (left) (Courtesy/Noor Wadi, Justice For Marwan campaign)

In North Texas, where I grew up, Marouf is best known in the community for his work with the Muslim American Society of Dallas, supporting youth programming. He sponsored a Boy Scouts troop, led volunteer initiatives, and worked with programs for refugees as well. During the pandemic, he drove around Dallas and its sprawling suburbs delivering meals and supplies to people who needed extra help. Last year, he was recognized by the City of Richardson, one of the inner-ring suburbs, for his community service. 

On social media, the Muslim American Society quickly started collecting stories in his support, with the hashtag #BecauseOfMarwan. Many people affectionately called him Amo, the Arabic word for uncle, recalling his humble nature and the small ways he would make people smile—never getting mad at kids running amok at the center; making volunteers feel proud of the tasks they were assigned; and constantly working in the background to make everything run smoothly. He never sought the spotlight, but everyone who’s been in town long enough knows the name Marwan Marouf.  

“When I moved to Dallas with my family, Amo Marwan and his family really helped us feel like we’d lived here our whole lives,” said Noor Wadi, a community organizer who’s been supporting public outreach efforts for his case. “When … we’re at civic events, it feels empty without Amo Marwan. But we have hope that he will come back home. We’re going to apply pressure from every single angle.”

The Holy Land Foundation case, which the government tenuously tied Marouf to, was a major milestone in the U.S. government’s targeting of Muslims and Palestinians. The W. Bush administration designated the foundation a terrorist organization in 2001, saying that it had secretly sent funds to Hamas. The charity, which had provided food and medical aid and supported other aid programs in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, was at that point the largest Muslim-led charity in the United States. It distributed funds to reputable organizations in Palestine that also received funds from the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the European Commission. 

In what many observers, including the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, consider a sham trial, the five leaders of the charity were convicted and sent to prison. Their sentences ranged from 15 to 65 years. The convictions relied on testimony from anonymous witnesses from the Israeli military and evidence gathered from government wiretaps of the charity’s leaders. Former Treasury Department officials later admitted that Muslim-run charities were an “easy, soft target” in the early years of the War on Terror. 

According to Marouf’s legal team, he was transparent about his time volunteering with the foundation, when they had fundraisers locally, when immigration officials questioned him about it during his green card application process. And his donations and volunteer work pre-dated the Bush administration’s questionable terror designation anyway. 

“This volunteer work included ordering pizza and hiring a clown to entertain children while their parents attended [foundation] fundraising events,” MLFA said. “Marwan’s donations included sponsorship of an orphan in Palestine. And yet, some thirty years later, the government still chooses to wrongfully penalize Marwan for these ordinary acts of charity—acts which he considers obligatory to his faith.” 

Wadi said that the case could raise fears among the community about being targeted for similar donations or civic engagement. The accusations made 20 years ago against the Holy Land Foundation, and other Islamic charities, are similar to the accusations that Israel has recently leveled against the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, for example. In 2024, the Biden administration froze funding to the humanitarian organization after Israel accused some of its staff of participating in terrorist acts. 

What’s different now, Wadi said, is that the general public isn’t blindly accepting such claims about Muslims in their communities, especially after watching what a United Nations commission and a growing number of scholars have declared a genocide in Gaza, along with the blatant targeting of Palestinian student activists like Mahmoud Khalil. “People from all walks of life are saying, ‘That’s enough.’”

Imam Omar Suleiman, a well-known Dallas preacher, said that Marouf’s arrest was particularly shocking as the Trump administration has targeted Palestinians involved in demonstrations. “His arrest makes it apparent that the administration is now interested in targeting any Palestinian immigrant, whether they voice their opinions or simply serve quietly within their communities,” Suleiman said in an email. 

So far in Dallas, the community has turned out for Marouf. At a packed community gathering the day after his arrest, Suleiman told the gathered crowd not to despair. “This is not a funeral, this is not us bidding farewell to someone,” he said. “The heart of our community, the pillar of our community, has been taken away from us, and we can’t rest, nor can we accept that this is the way this is going to go.” 

He urged the crowd to continue advocating not just for Marouf but for the other detainees who have been unjustly held by ICE—like Leeqa Kordia, a 32-year-old Palestinian woman from New Jersey who has also been held at a North Texas detention center. “Marwan would be the first person to tell you to use his case, and what’s happened to him, to shine a light on people who share his plight,” Suleiman said. “If any one of you were in his situation, he would run around the world to make sure you got the support you needed.” 

The post Trump’s ICE Has Arrested a Pillar of the Dallas Muslim Community. I Grew Up Hearing His Calls for Compassion. appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat in the waters off Venezuela, according to a social media post.

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In his post, Hegseth said that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”

The strike comes less than a day after it was revealed that President Donald Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and declared that the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them in a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

According to Hegseth’s post, the strike killed four men, but it offered no other details on who they were or what organization they belonged to.

The video of the strike posted online showed a small boat moving in open water when it suddenly explodes. As the smoke from the explosion clears, the boat is visible, consumed with flames, floating motionless on the water.

Last month, the U.S. military carried out three other deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean that the administration accused of ferrying drugs.

With this strike, at least three of these operations have now been carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.

Those strikes followed a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean unlike any seen in recent times.

The Navy’s presence in the region — eight warships with over 5,000 sailors and Marines — has been pretty stable for weeks, according to two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

Officials in the Pentagon, when asked for more details about the strike, referred The Associated Press back to Hegseth’s post on social media.

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By TIFFANY STANLEY, LUIS ANDRES HENAO and MARIAM FAM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Zohran Mamdani ’s swift rise in New York City’s mayoral race has made him into a national symbol — both as a point of pride among many Muslim Americans and a political foil for the right.

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His campaign has been met by a surge in anti-Muslim language directed at the Democratic nominee, who would become the city’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee called him “little muhammad” and urged deportation. On social media, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina referenced 9/11 alongside a photo of Mamdani dressed in a kurta, a loose collarless shirt common in South Asia.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed without evidence that “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.”

On many levels, Mamdani’s run is a significant moment for the country and New York City, which endured 9/11 and the rise in Islamophobia that followed.

“He really does hold so much symbolism,” said Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University. The campaign is a reminder of anti-Muslim discrimination, he said, but also of Muslim Americans asserting their right “to lead this society moving forward.”

Politicians from both major parties have attacked Mamdani’s progressive politics and criticism of Israel. Conservatives have leaned more heavily into religious attacks and anti-immigrant sentiments.

President Donald Trump singled him out for censure and falsely questioned his U.S. citizenship, echoing “birther” rhetoric he once aimed at former President Barack Obama.

At the National Conservatism Conference, multiple speakers used Mamdani’s name and religion as attack lines, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon calling the democratic socialist a “Marxist and a jihadist.”

The rhetoric is all too familiar for many Muslim Americans, including Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, who faced slurs and death threats as the first Muslim woman to run for Congress in New Jersey in 2020.

“We’re at a crossroads,” she said via email. “On one hand, Muslims are achieving unprecedented visibility and influence in political spaces. On the other, our dehumanization has never been so normalized and widespread.”

The threat of political violence

Before his assassination last month, conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on social media that, “America’s largest city was attacked by radical Islam 24 years ago, and now a similar form of that pernicious force is poised to capture city hall.” On his show, Kirk called Mamdani a “Mohammedan,” an antiquated term for Muslim, and warned about “Anglo centers” like New York coming “under Mohammedan rule.”

Mamdani condemned Kirk’s killing while decrying America’s plague of political violence.

In September, a Texas man was charged with making death threats against Mamdani, including calling him a terrorist and saying “Muslims don’t belong here,” prosecutors said.

Mamdani’s campaign responded by saying these types of threats “reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city.”

“We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia and hate,” the statement read.

Islamophobia from 9/11 until now

Anti-Muslim bias has persisted in different forms since Sept. 11, 2001.

New York City police ran a now-disbanded Muslim surveillance program. There was furor in 2010 over plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. Nationwide, dozens of states introduced legislation aimed at banning Islamic law.

“At its core, anti-Muslim rhetoric is the same: that Muslims don’t belong in this country, that they are perpetual foreigners, that they are a threat to American society and government,” said Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago.

Critics of Obama, a Christian with Muslim ancestry, sought to use his connections to Islam as a political liability. As president, he spoke about his childhood years in Indonesia and his father’s Muslim family in Kenya as assets in diplomacy.

Trump amplified criticisms of Obama’s background, stoking so-called “birther” rumors by falsely questioning whether Obama was born in the U.S.

“He’s really created this new permission structure for people to more openly voice their anti-Muslim rhetoric,” Chouhoud said.

A similar playbook is being used with Mamdani. Born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, he has lived in New York City since he was 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He was elected to the state Assembly in 2020.

Despite that record, Trump has echoed a false allegation denying Mamdani’s citizenship and immigration status.

Democrats and the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war

Islamophobia and antisemitism have risen during the war in Gaza. Accusations of both have played out in the race for mayor of New York, a city home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in the U.S.

Before dropping out, Mayor Eric Adams joined another Democrat, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in calling Mamdani “dangerous.” Cuomo accused him of “fueling antisemitism” with sharp criticism of Israel.

An outside group supporting Cuomo, who’s now running as an independent, prepared a flyer that appeared to lengthen and darken Mamdani’s beard, which Mamdani called “blatant Islamophobia.” Cuomo’s campaign disavowed it and the mailer was never sent.

Other Democrats have distanced themselves from Mamdani’s progressive platform, critiques of Israel and staunch support for Palestinian rights.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York apologized to Mamdani after incorrectly saying he referenced “global jihad.” At issue was his refusal to condemn other people’s use of the slogan “globalize the intifada.” He later said he would discourage its use. Some see the phrase as a call for Palestinian liberation and rights, others as a call for violence against Jews.

In an emotional news conference ahead of his primary win in June, Mamdani accused his rivals of using antisemitism to score political points. “I’ve said at every opportunity there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country.”

Pride and hope from fellow Muslims

Despite the controversies, many American Muslims are upbeat about a possible Mamdani victory.

“The abiding emotion … is a really deep sense of hope,” said Chouhoud, whose Brooklyn accent speaks to his New York roots.

Shahana Hanif, a Mamdani ally and the first Muslim woman elected to the New York City Council, is optimistic. She said Islamophobia is being used as a fear tactic “and it’s just not working.”

Hanan Thabet, a born-and-raised New Yorker and a Mamdani supporter, said his campaign has energized her family after two years of grief over the killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

So much so that her children — ages 10 and 8 — helped her phone bank for him. “They’re super excited to see this young energetic brown man, Muslim man, you know, potentially be our next mayor.”

As a mother, she feels like it’s “impossible to explain why it has become so socially acceptable to dehumanize Muslims and Arabs, and why our lives seem to matter the least.”

“That is what makes Zohran’s candidacy not only historic,” she said, “but necessary.”

Henao reported from New York, and Fam from Cairo.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By Robbie Sequeira, Stateline.org

As a middle-school student in 1980s Philadelphia, Shelley Hunter remembers getting to and from school pretty easily thanks to the city’s public transit service, SEPTA, which had bus and train routes near her home and her school. Sometimes, she even felt comfortable enough to take a city cab.

Now, Hunter is a single mother of two living in Grapevine, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, juggling her unstable housing situation and early and late shifts at a local hospital where she works as an EEG technician.

In a heavily car-dependent area, getting her own kids to school is a lot harder. Her family has been able to use a school-sponsored ride-hailing service, joining a trend that’s quickly gaining acceptance around the country.

“The DFW area isn’t like New York or Philly — there isn’t a train at your door. In some cities here, you can’t even cross to another city by transit,” Hunter told Stateline. “If we’d changed schools every time our housing situation changed and they had no bus route near them, my kids would have switched four or five times in a year. That would have blown up their education.”

Big, yellow and once ubiquitous on early morning or rush-hour streets, the traditional school bus has been undercut by national bus driver shortages, worsened by the pandemic. And with states stretched thin by federal funding cuts, a pathway has opened for an industry of small-car, ride-hailing and private transport services to ferry children to and from school.

Some school districts sign contracts to gather children every morning in cars or transport vans; in other cases parents pay individually for a driver to arrive, Uber-like, and ferry their child off to class.

Growing interest in charter schools and private vouchers will likely bring more business to these alternatives to traditional school buses. And recently, the shift has been helped by new state laws that encourage school districts to embrace new transportation models.

A new Idaho law this year, for example, allows school districts to use smaller capacity vehicles to carry schoolchildren, not just yellow buses. Similar new laws in Louisiana and Virginia allow districts to hire ride-hailing companies, though Virginia’s is a two-year pilot program.

New Jersey enacted a law last fall allowing school employees who undergo training and pass background checks to transport up to eight students to and from school in personal vehicles.

And in South Carolina, where the state, rather than individual districts, runs the bus system, lawmakers introduced a privatization bill that would have phased out the state’s ownership and operation of yellow buses. It would have allowed districts to choose their own transportation fleet and contract with private companies.

The bill, which died in committee, also would have required South Carolina to sell or lease its yellow buses by 2029, ending state ownership of the system.

A recent State of School Transportation survey, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in partnership with HopSkipDrive, a ride-hailing company that supplements school bus service, found that 80% of school administrators say driver shortages are straining their districts, with two-thirds reporting smaller budgets despite rising demand.

Three-quarters of school administrators link poor transportation access to chronic absenteeism. In another survey by the same group, parents, and especially mothers, reported missing work — and sometimes losing their jobs — because they often got stuck in traffic jams that made them late. Respondents reported that students missed meals, tutoring and extracurricular activities.

“When school transportation isn’t running as it should, we see a direct impact on attendance. Families who don’t have reliable alternatives often end up missing school entirely or showing up late, which disrupts learning and stability,” said Miriam Vasquez, executive director of student welfare and attendance at the Alameda County Office of Education in California.

But critics, including the lobbying association for school bus contractors, said the changes could undermine safety.

“Buses are built to withstand collisions in ways no passenger vehicle can,” Curt Macysyn, executive director of the National School Transportation Association, told Stateline. “One bus takes 36 cars off the road, and drivers have specialized training you don’t get anywhere else. I haven’t seen another model that replicates all of those pieces.”

Filling gaps

Around 2023, Hunter was stretched thin. She didn’t have a home of her own, so she had been living with her kids at friends’ homes. She spent a lot of money trying to get her children to and from school safely.

At first, Hunter tried Uber and Lyft, but anxiety overwhelmed her with each trip. She began downloading tracking apps and paying friends to accompany her children just to make sure they made it to class safely. But that started becoming too emotionally and financially overwhelming.

It wasn’t until she contacted the school district that she learned she was eligible for help under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a 1987 law that allows students experiencing homelessness to stay in their original school and receive transportation assistance.

“I never wanted my kids to switch schools because it’s stressful and they learn less,” said Hunter. “I also wouldn’t have known if I was eligible for assistance without asking.”

The district put her in touch with HopSkipDrive.

Operating in 17 states, HopSkipDrive offers a small-vehicle ride-hailing service covered under the McKinney-Vento law for families with unstable housing situations. The company operates similarly to ride-hailing companies such as Uber, but it contracts directly with schools, camps and districts through agreements that usually include a base trip fee plus mileage.

HopSkipDrive co-founder Joanna McFarland isn’t advocating for replacing the yellow bus model, or for shrinking routes or service, she said. Rather, she is lobbying states to allow more flexibility for districts to use small-vehicle services for the hardest-to-reach students.

Vasquez, of Alameda County, works almost exclusively with district students eligible to attend their home schools under the McKinney-Vento law. She noted that some families may not be aware of the transportation benefits available to them, and sometimes have to be persuaded to participate, given the stigma of their situation.

Under McKinney-Vento, districts are legally responsible for providing transportation, but only what’s considered “reasonable.” Vasquez points out that “reasonable” often ends up being a mass transit card or bus pass, which may not necessarily be safe or age-appropriate.

It’s why, she said, Alameda County contracted with HopSkipDrive to fill some of the gaps for those families in 2024.

“It’s very layered. We don’t just need more buses, we need routes that match bell schedules, laws that make it safe to transport younger kids, and case management that makes sure families actually know their options,” said Vasquez.

According to the State of School Transportation survey, roughly a quarter of school administrators say their school or district has cut or shortened bus routes in response to driver shortages.

In Ohio, multiple districts canceled public high school busing this year while still transporting students to private or charter schools under new state mandates. Several New Jersey districts eliminated“courtesy busing,” prompting more walks to school for students within 2 miles. A similar change affected middle and high school students in Florida’s Duval County last year.

“While cutting transportation has become a default option, it has unacceptable consequences,” said McFarland. “What schools really need is a policy that gives them the flexibility to add more tools, like small-vehicle options, so they can get more kids to school, often in less time and at lower cost.”

McFarland told Stateline when she co-founded the service in 2015, she was one of those parents who needed to sacrifice working time to take her kids to school. A decade later, more than 10,000 schools across the country use HopSkipDrive, she said.

Fewer yellow buses

The safest form of transportation to and from school is still the yellow bus, said Macysyn, of the National School Transportation Association. For Macysyn, the COVID-19 pandemic turned a predictable model of school transportation on its head.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many bus drivers retired, left the workforce or in some cases died, and districts have scrambled to find someone to take the wheel, be it substitute teachers, administrators and, sometimes, even parents.

The number of bus drivers decreased by 15% between September 2019 and September 2023, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Private school bus contractors now account for 38% of the nation’s pupil transportation services, according to the National School Transportation Association.

In the changed post-pandemic school transportation system, Macysyn worries that small-car and ride-hailing alternatives will compromise on safety and reliability as they push efficiency and expediency.

“I’ve yet to see anybody replicate the yellow bus system in its entirety,” he said. “The bus, the driver training, the safety standards, the student management and being able to put all of it together and make it work.”

A major focus for yellow bus advocates has been under-the-hood laws, which allow bus driver applicants to earn a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) without having to identify and explain engine components during the road test.

Since then, these laws have passed in 12 states: Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

Macysyn believes these laws, as well as boosting pay for bus drivers, can rebuild the workforce. He also cautions against privatization bills like the one in South Carolina, arguing that individual vehicles taking kids to school wouldn’t be more cost-effective than the yellow bus model.

“Until you lose it, people don’t realize what would be gone if the yellow bus system disappeared,” he said. “Transportation is the entry point to education. Yet every time there’s a budget crunch, buses are the first thing on the chopping block. If we don’t get kids to school, what happens in the classroom is irrelevant.”

Back in Grapevine, it’s been two years since Hunter first signed up to use the HopSkipDrive service, and though her oldest has graduated, her 13-year-old son still uses it.

Hunter says her children developed personal, intergenerational relationships with their HopSkipDrive driver. She describes her decision to use the service as a “blessing” and says her children’s school commutes have been cut in half.

“The people that are driving are kind to my kids,” Hunter said. “They’re not just driving; they care.”

Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.