AaronSchock

Feel Free To Share This Page Slashdot Del.icio.us Google Digg Reddit Newsvine Furl Yahoo Facebook

Washington, Jul 2 - Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) issued the following statement after the federal  government dismissed its case to deport an anti-terror hero and former Hamas informer Mosab Hassan Yousef.  

“Mosab Hassan Yousef saved hundreds of lives by alerting Israel to many planned terrorist attacks,” said Schock.  “I’m incredibly grateful we were able to overturn our bureaucracy’s intention to deny him asylum and deport him. He is nothing short of a hero and I am pleased our government finally granted him asylum.”                   

Schock continued, “A case such as Mosab Yousef’s is precisely what granting political asylum is all about.”    

An immigration judge has just ruled Yousef will be granted asylum in the United States.  Schock, along with 21 other Members of Congress, sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urging her to give “full consideration” to Yousef’s “courageous work to prevent acts of terror.”  The Members of Congress said to Secretary Napolitano that they were troubled by the position of the Department concerning the immigration status of Mr. Yousef.   

Before Schock and his colleagues intervened in this case, news reports said the Department of Homeland Security was strongly opposing granting asylum and instead favored deporting Mr. Yousef.  

Former CIA Director James Woolsey under President Bill Clinton, says his deportation would discourage other potential spies.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that such an action would set us back years in the war on terrorism," Woolsey wrote in a letter released by Yousef's attorney. "Mosab Yousef’s deportation would be such an inhumane act it would constitute a blight on American history."
As his asylum case was pending, Yousef said, "Exposing terrorist secrets and warning the world in my first book cost me everything. I am a traitor to my people, disowned by my family, a man without a country.”

Schock concluded, “Deporting Mosab Hassan Yousef would have been a death sentence for this courageous and conscientious hero who saved untold lives by his daring work with Israeli intelligence. Now that his mission is over, the least we can do is provide him a safe haven from brutal torture before certain death.”