[wvns] LA8 Freed - We Won!!!
CHARGES DROPPED IN 20-YEAR OLD DEPORTATION CASE
AGAINST PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS
Long court battle ends with victory for immigrants
Center for Constitutional Rights
National Lawyers Guild
ACLU of Southern California
LOS ANGELES – The 20-year effort to deport two men over their alleged
political support of Palestinian self-determination officially came to
an end today when the nation's highest administrative body overseeing
immigration cases dismissed all charges against Khader Hamide and
Michel Shehadeh, members of a group of Palestinian student activists
arrested in January 1987, who became known as the LA8.
The action by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) closes one of the
nation's longest-running and most controversial deportation cases, one
that tested whether immigrants have the same First Amendment rights as
citizens. Hamide and Shehadeh expressed both relief and happiness that
the case is finally over but also anger over what they believed to be
a politically motivated, baseless prosecution.
"My family and I feel a tremendous amount of relief today," said
Hamide. "After 20 years, the nightmare is finally over. I feel
vindicated at long last. This is a victory not only for us, but for
the First Amendment of the Constitution and for the rights of all
immigrants."
Shehadeh agreed. "I am extremely happy but do have mixed emotions,"
Shehadeh added. "The government was wrong for twenty one years. They
robbed us, and our families, of the best and most productive years of
our lives. We are now free to continue living our lives, acting on our
beliefs; raising our families, supporting our communities, loving our
country, defending justice and the Constitution, and prospering as
good citizens."
The case against the pair began in January, 1987, when the government
arrested them and six others, who collectively came to be known as the
LA 8, placed them in maximum security prison, and accused them of
having ties to a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The
government alleged that Hamide and Shehadeh distributed newspapers,
held demonstrations and organized humanitarian aid fundraisers for
Palestinians, and that because these actions supported the PLO
faction, they should be deported. The men were initially charged with
being associated with a Communist organization, but when a court
declared those charges unconstitutional, the government filed new
charges of material support for a terrorist group. The case went
before the US Court of Appeals four times, the Supreme Court once, and
the Board of Immigration Appeals multiple times.
The BIA dismissed the case at the request of the government, which
agreed in a settlement to drop all charges and not to seek removal of
either of the men in the future based on any of the political
activities or associations at issue in the case. Hamide and Shehadeh
agreed not to apply for citizenship for three years, and to have
several judicial orders in the case vacated as moot.
Attorneys for the two hailed the government's decision to drop the
case as a victory the First Amendment rights of all immigrants and a
vindication of their clients' actions. "This is a monumental victory
for all immigrants who want to be able to express their political
views and suppor t the lawful activities of organizations in their
home countries fighting for social or political change," said Marc Van
Der Hout, of the National Lawyers Guild. "Hamide and Shehadeh did
nothing more than advocate for Palestinians' right to a homeland and
support charitable causes and other legal activities in the Occupied
Territories. That should never have been cause for deportation charges
in the first place.
The government's attempt to deport them all these years marks another
shameful period in our government's history of targeting certain
groups of immigrants for their political beliefs and activities."
"We are overjoyed for our clients, who have spent twenty years
fighting for the right to stay in this country and speak and associate
freely," said David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law
School and volunteer attorney for the Center for Constitutional
rights. "And we commend the administration for recognizing that
federal anti-terrorism resources can be far better spent on other
endeavors."
The tipping point came in January 2007, when Immigration Judge Bruce
J. Einhorn dismissed the case finding that the government's refusal to
turn over evidence favorable to the men violated the pair's right to
due process. The government's refusal to comply with his disclosure
order, Einhorn wrote, is "a festering wound on the body of respondents
and an embarrassment to the rule of law."
The case originally involved seven Palestinians and a Kenyan, the wife
of Khader Hamide. Late last year, Aiad Barakat, one of the eight, was
sworn in as a U.S. citizen in Los Angeles after federal judge Stephen
Wilson rejected the government's contentions that he should be denied
citizenship for his political associations. All of the others have
either been granted permanent residency or are on track to becoming
permanent residents.
"We are gratified that the government has decided to terminate this
case and to spend its resources on genuine threats to our national
security," said Ahilan T. Arulanantham, staff attorney with the ACLU
of Southern Cali fornia. "Hamide and Shehadeh are law-abiding
immigrants who have lived here for more than a quarter century each
and done nothing wrong. We are glad that they will be able to live out
the rest of their lives in peace in the country they have called home."
Van Der Hout and Cole have been representing the immigrants since the
case began in 1987 along with Leonard Weinglass of Chicago Seven fame
and investigator Phyllis Bennis of the National Lawyers' Guild.
===
Victory for "L.A. 8": Case Dropped After 20-Years
October 31, 2007
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is happy to
learn that after a 20-year legal battle, the Board of Immigration
Appeals (BIA) has completely terminated the "L.A. 8" case.
This comes following the Government's most recent court defeat this
past January when Judge Einhorn of the Los Angeles Immigration Court
terminated the proceedings against the two men, finding that the
Government was in violation of the men's constitutional, statutory,
and regulatory rights. As the court stated in its eleven-page opinion,
"The Court finds that the Government has failed to carry its burden of
proving respondents deportable based on clear, unequivocal, and
convincing evidence. Therefore, the proceedings against Hamide and
Shehadeh are TERMINATED [sic]."
The BIA dismissed the case at the request of the Government, which
agreed in a settlement to drop all charges and not to seek removal of
either of the men in the future based on any of the political
activities or associations at issue in this case. Khader Hamide and
Michel Shehadeh have agreed not to apply for citizenship for three
years, and to have several judicial orders in the case vacated as
moot. To read the immigration court's most recent opinion in its
entirety, click here: http://www.adc.org/PDF/LA8.pdf
Over the past 20-years, ADC has been advocating for the dismissal of
the government's longest running deportation case. In January 2007,
following the Government's most recent defeat in court when Judge
Einhorn issued the decision, ADC called on the US Department of
Justice (DOJ) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to drop
the case.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff this past February, ADC
requested that DHS no longer pursue this 20-year attempt that has
repeatedly proved a failure when challenged in court. That same month,
ADC also met with DHS officials in Washington on two occasions to
advocate against continuing with this case. Previously, ADC President
Hon. Mary Rose Oakar worked with House Judiciary Committee Chairman
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) who also sent letters advocating
against continuation of the case. And for years before that, ADC had
been engaged on the case, repeatedly asking for the case to be
dismissed. To see ADC's February 2007 letter to Secretary Chertoff
see: http://www.adc.org/uploads/media/LA_8_Chertoff_Letter_2007.pdf
ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora said, "After 20-years of
trials and tribulations, Michel Shehadeh, Khader Hamide, and their
families can finally live their lives without fear of deportation."
Shora continued, "ADC is delighted of the Government's decision to
drop this case and calls upon government officials to take note of
this 20-year example of shame on the part of government prosecutors to
unfairly target a group of individuals based on political ideology.
This is not what our country should stand for and we know, as this
case has demonstrated, that our system will not allow for such
persecution."
Hamide and Shehadeh are two of the eight people arrested in January
1987, by immigration officials on charges of being affiliated with the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). At the time, the
government charged that any association with the PFLP was grounds for
deportation under the McCarran-Walter Act, legislation written during
the McCarthy era that allowed deportation for association with any
organization that "advocated the doctrines of world Communism."
Specifically, the government alleged that Hamide and Shehadeh had
given talks and handed out magazines in support of the creation of a
Palestinian state. In 1989, a Federal Judge declared the charges under
the McCarran-Walter Act unconstitutional; the Government chose to
pursue deportation by other means, some of which were retroactive
applications of new laws, which throughout the years were successfully
challenged in many different courts.
Then the Government alleged that Hamide and Shehadeh had provided
material support to a terrorist organization. The substance of these
charges was that the two men had made donations in the 1980s as
students to social services centers (such as hospitals and day care
centers) associated with the PFLP. After bringing the
constitutionality of the charges to the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1999, the Court ruled that the cases could indeed be tried
under these charges. The Government would later bring similar charges
against the two men under provisions of the USA Patriot Act of 2001,
for the material support of a terrorist organization. All these
attempts proved a failure in court.
Marc Van Der Hout, National Lawyers Guild, and David Cole, Georgetown
University Law Professor and volunteer attorney with the Center for
Constitutional Rights, have represented the immigrants since the case
began in 1987.
For more information about ADC's efforts on the L.A. 8 case, see:
ADC Renews Calls to Drop L.A. 8 Case:
http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=2101
ADC Urges Government to Drop L.A. 8 Case:
http://www.adc.org/index.php?id=1847
*********************************************************************
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
Need some good karma? Appreciate the service?
Please consider donating to WVNS today.
Email ummyakoub@yahoo.com for instructions.
To leave this list, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:wvns-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:wvns-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
No comments:
Post a Comment