Egyptian Aviation Student Emadeldin Elsayed Facing Deportation for Alleged Threat Against Donald Trump’s Life

An Egyptian aviation student studying in the U.S. could be deported to his home country following threats he made on his social media account against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. According to the Associated Press, 23-year-old Cairo native Emadeldin Elsayed is in court today after being detained by Orange County police in February for what his lawyer, Hani Bushra, admitted was a “foolish” Facebook post.

“It seems like the government was not able to get a criminal charge to stick on him, so they used the immigration process to have him leave the country,” said Bushra. “The rhetoric is particularly high in this election, and I just feel he got caught up in the middle.”

According to reports, Elsayed — who came to the country in September to join Los Angeles’ Universal Air Academy — posted a picture of Donald Trump on his Facebook timeline with a caption detailing how he would willingly serve a life sentence for killing the G.O.P. front-runner. Authorities also claimed that Elsayed backed up this comment by noting that the world would thank him.

https://www.facebook.com/Breitbart/posts/10156818101845354

“It’s just a stupid post. You can find thousands of these every hour on Facebook and the media,” Elsayed told the AP, noting that, while he was angered by Trump’s comments regarding Muslim immigration, he never intended to harm anyone and immediately regretted what he said.

“I don’t know why would they think I am a threat to the national security of the United States just because of a stupid post.”

Unfortunately for Elsayed, the U.S. government thought differently.

The Egyptian student was subsequently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities and — despite not facing charges — was told that his visa to attend flight school had been revoked. The same agency commented to the AP that Elsayed, who dreamed of being a commercial pilot in his home country, had violated the “terms of his admission to the United States” by making the threat. No further details were provided.

At the same time, Bushra noted that his frequent petitions for Elsayed to be released from custody prior to his trial have been rejected by immigration officials, citing Elsayed’s online words as proof that he could be a physical danger.

Donald Trump has been a very polarizing candidate for the Republican party and has prompted many a debate regarding not only his character, but the characters of those who would vote for him in a general election. During the course of his campaign, Trump has, notably, called for a temporary banning of Muslims from entering U.S. soil, albeit in light of the 2015 attacks in Paris, France and the San Bernadino, California shootings.

However, Elsayed was not alone in his anger toward the Republican front-runner.

.@VicenteFoxQue: “Who really needs to apologize is [Trump], to all the people he has offended.” WATCH: https://t.co/v3Lnuad0W9

— UpFront (@AJUpFront) March 4, 2016

“[Amadeldin] is honestly a good student,” said Universal Air Academy owner Alex Khatib, noting that he was surprised when asked by immigration officials to terminate Elsayed’s school-related paperwork and that he would gladly take him back if allowed. Khatib also denied claims by Elsayed’s legal team that he had been the one to flag the controversial words with government officials, saying he knew nothing about the Facebook post and continuing to state, “He [just] seemed like a good guy.”

These kind words were also backed up by Elsayed’s sister, Ohoud Elsayed, who said that his overseas family learned of the details surrounding his arrest only after contacting the flight school. “We were all very worried,” Ohoud told the LA Times. “No one even told us who [the] officers who took him work for…”

“We don’t [know] what the post was about, we kept looking for it on Emad’s Facebook page but didn’t find anything on Trump or U.S. politics,” she continued, in addition to noting that Elsayed had never shown an interest in politics while in Egypt.

For his part, Elsayed told the AP that he hopes to convince government officials to let him stay, and will otherwise seek a $65,000 refund to continue his studies in another country.

The State Department and Secret Service, in addition to Trump campaign spokespersons, have declined to comment.

[Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images]