Texas Judge Orders Jordanian Deported

A federal judge has ordered the deportation of a Jordanian graduate student who acknowledged he once considered becoming a suicide bomber if the United States invades Iraq.

“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 in order to help U.S. authorities better guard against people like him.

Immigration Judge D. Anthony Rogers ordered Aletwei deported by the end of this 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 U.S. in August 2001 as part of a Jordanian-sponsored student exchange program. He is three months shy of 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 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.

But Aletwei said he disclosed his thoughts to the FBI to help it deal with terrorism.

“I want people to understand just how we think because if they understand how we think, they can prevent accidents like 9/11. I don’t believe war or violence can solve anything,” he said.