The son of a Hamas co-founder and spy for Israel was set to be granted asylum after the US government withdrew its opposition to his request to remain in the country on Wednesday.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, 32, had fought to remain in the United States, claiming he faced retaliation from the Palestinian militant group after admitting he spied for Israel for a decade from 1997 to 2007.
But Yousef, who had documented his life as a prized asset for Israel's Shin Bet security service in his recent memoir "Son of Hamas," had faced deportation after objections from the US Department of Homeland Security.
At a hearing at the Otay Mesa federal detention facility outside San Diego early Wednesday, US government attorneys said they were dropping opposition to his asylum plea.
The Department of Homeland Security was not immediately available to comment on the apparent U-turn.
Lauren Alder Reid, counsel for legislative and public affairs at the Executive Office for Immigration Review, said Immigration Court Judge Richard Bartolomei would now likely grant asylum pending background checks.
"The immigration judge is awaiting background and fingerprint checks. If those come back without any flags, he is inclined to draft a written opinion that would grant the respondent asylum," Reid told AFP.
Yousef, who arrived in the United States on a temporary tourist visa in 2007, told reporters outside the hearing room he had not expected the decision.
"I was surprised," he was quoted as saying by The San Diego Union-Tribune's website. "This country is the greatest country because the Constitution protects liberty all the time."
Attorneys for Yousef said letters of support from several members of the US Congress and the Israeli Knesset likely influenced the decision.
