Trump threat spurs student deportation
LOS ANGELES: An Egyptian flight student was expected to appear in immigration court yesterday to determine whether he should be deported after being investigated by federal agents for posting threatening comments on his Facebook page about Donald Trump.
Emadeldin Elsayed, a 23-year-old aspiring pilot from Cairo, had a hearing scheduled before Immigration Judge Kevin Riley in Los Angeles.
US Secret Service agents interviewed Elsayed about his post in early February, then returned to his Los Angelesarea flight school eight days later and told him federal prosecutors were not charging him with a crime but his visa had been revoked.
Immigration authorities then arrested Mr Elsayed. He has been detained since Feb 12 at an Orange County jail.
Mr Elsayed wrote that he was willing to serve a life sentence for killing Mr Trump and the world would thank him, said his lawyer, Hani Bushra.
Mr Elsayed said he was angered by the Republican presidential contender’s comments about banning Muslims from traveling to the United States, but never intended to harm anyone.
Mr Trump has used especially tough talk on immigration during his campaign. The Republican presidential contender has vowed to build a wall along the entire Mexican border and called for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that Mr Elsayed was arrested because he violated “the terms of his admission to the United States”. The agency did not provide further details.
Immigration authorities alleged in court filings that Universal Air Academy had tipped off federal officials to the Facebook post, Mr Bushra said.