Mosab Hassan Yousef will be granted asylum in the United States following a routine background check, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday during a deportation hearing in San Diego, Calif. A US Department of Homeland Security attorney said during the short hearing that the government was dropping its objections to the asylum request.

The former Israeli spy said he feared for his life if he were deported. The eldest son of Hassan Yousef, a founder of the Palestinian group, Yousef, 32, was recruited by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, in 1997. Israeli agents have been quoted as saying that his information prevented multiple attacks.

Yousef published his memoir in a recent book, “Son of Hamas,” and now promotes the book on the conservative and pro-Israel speaking circuits.

Immigration authorities originally rejected his request for asylum, apparently based on his acknowledgment in his book that he worked for Hamas — even though he was employed in order to spy for Israel.

But attorneys for Yousef said letters of support from several members of the US Congress and the Israeli Knesset likely influenced the decision.

In the last several weeks, the US Jewish community rallied to Yousef’s cause to stay in the United States. Members of Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, and members of Congress wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder and to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, organized a letter to Holder and Napolitano signed by 22 Republican House members urging Napolitano to grant the Palestinian asylum.

Additionally, a Shin Bet agent broke his cover in an attempt to help Yousef avoid deportation from the US.

Gonen Ben-Yitzchak, who left the service four years ago, worked for 10 years as one of the handlers of Yousef. He said the son of the Hamas leader had saved American and Israeli lives with the information he provided while posing as a terrorist.

All this resulted in having an immigration judge rule that Yousef is eligible for asylum if he passes a routine background check.

Brian Hale, a spokesman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said, “During a hearing this morning, DHS attorneys recommended to the court that Yousef be granted the requested relief.”

Yousef was tied to Hamas through his relationship with his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of its founders. The elder Yousef is now in an Israeli prison since 2005. He has denounced his son for his conversion to Christianity and his admission that he spied for the Shin Bet.

Sheikh Yousef said in a statement following reports that his son had spied for Israel that he and his wife, as well as his other children, disowned their eldest son.