Former professor pleads guilty, faces deportation

Former UCF Professor Hussam Jubara pleaded guilty Thursday in response to a federal indictment. He faces certain deportation for his plea, and possibly months more of jail time. Jubara was charged with immigration violations in March, a charge he had fought before.

The computer engineering professor co-founded a Tampa-area charity organization suspected of terrorism ties.

While still considering a plea, Jubara's part-time teaching contract went unrenewed by UCF, effectively ending his time as a UCF professor.

Separated from his family for four months, Jubara will spend the rest of his time in the United States in jail, separated from his wife and five children, who rely on Jubara's income for survival. As the nightmare for this family unfolds and the reality begins to settle in, the future of Jubara's family remains as uncertain as his.

According to three attorneys associated with Jubara, Richard Condon, Roger Scott Jr., and Jubara's present attorney R.Patrick Phillips, the actual charges against Jubara stem from something relatively minor. The first charges involved the misspelling of Jubara's name on Immigration and Naturalization papers. However, each attorney emphasized that a variation of name spelling is an immaterial basis that has brought devastating turmoil to the Jubara household.

According to Condon, "Certain Arabic sounds and words don't translate perfectly into English, and can lead to a variety of spellings."

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Jubara has previously identified himself as Hussam Abujbara, Hosam Jobara and Hussam Abou Jbara.

The other charge involved Jubara's undocumented marriage to a college sweetheart. According to Jubara himself this charge is truthful. However, the significance of these charges remains dwarfed by the effects these proceedings have had on his family's livelihood.

Jubara was arrested in March 2003 on three counts of falsified information on immigration forms. He was rearrested in May on the same charges. The complexity of his present situation centers on the government's demand that he leave the United States.

Scott, one of four attorneys who provided Jubara counsel during the past four months, said Jubara faces political instability and a Middle East complicated by American intervention in Iraq.

Jubara, a native Palestinian, plans to immigrate to Jordan once deported, but Jordan might not want him.

"As a result of increasing tensions in the Middle East, coupled with the building of a barrier wall between Israel and the West Bank, a heavy migration has begun to occur into Jordan," Scott said. "This influx may eventually create a hostile environment that could lead to the overthrow of [Jordanian] King Abdullah's U.S. friendly government. Therefore, Jubara's intent to travel to Jordan may be hampered by that government's leeriness to accept him as a citizen."

With limited options, Jubara may be forced to settle in Sudan or Somalia, both countries suffering from economic and literal starvation.

The two countries hardly mirror the comfortable, well-educated atmosphere that Jubara and his family are accustomed to in America. To compound the pressure of losing their father and husband, Jubara's family deals with more than the bleak prospects of Jubara's future conditions. They must also awaken daily to uncertainty about Jubara's present living conditions.

Over the last four months, Jubara has been moved from Orange County to Seminole County due to jail overcrowding. Condon, a trusted friend and attorney who has known Jubara since 1998, provided testimony during the trial, and has been in contact with Jubara throughout the case.

According to Condon, "the time Jubara has spent behind bars contained its fair share of hard treatment. During Jubara's detainment in March, when he was held by immigration agents at the Bradenton facility as a citizen detainee, Jubara was denied communal prayer," he said. "At one point, Jubara was being held in a jail that served rancid food. Ironically however, once Jubara was held as a federal criminal, his clothing and food conditions improved."

Unfortunately, the same is hardly true for Jubara's family.

"Collectively the family is amazed and appalled at the same time," Condon said, but that the traditional Muslim family is used to loss - Jubara's wife, also a Palestinian, saw the decay of her homeland, and eventually left it behind.

While enduring separation, Jubara's wife has suffered beneath a media spotlight that wasn't always warm, Condon said. "Fox news reporters were escorted off her property and issued a restraining order by police for trespassing and sticking cameras in her windows."

The family refused an interview request.

The combination of worry and uncertainty has been somewhat dulled by the support of the local Muslim community. In Jubara's absence, his 15-year-old son has taken a leadership role, steering their fate.

Since all Jubara's children were born within the United States, including his six-month-old newborn son, they have the same rights as any other American citizen.

If they want to embrace their father again, though, they may have to leave the country to do so.