[Ppnews] LA 8 - US loses 20-year attempt to deport 2 immigrants

[Political Prisoner News]

U.S. loses 20-year attempt to deport 2 immigrants
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/scotus/la-me-laeight31jan31,1,3049428.story?coll=la-news-politics-supreme_court&ctrack=1&cset=true 


An immigration judge criticizes federal conduct 
in the case against the pair, both legal residents, accused of terrorist ties.
By Henry Weinstein, Times Staff Writer
January 31, 2007

A federal immigration judge has dismissed the 
government's attempt to deport two men who were 
arrested along with six other U.S. residents 
because of their alleged ties to Palestinian 
terrorists and who fought relentless efforts to 
force them to leave the country for 20 years.

Judge Bruce E. Einhorn of Los Angeles, in a 
ruling made public Tuesday, said the government 
had violated the constitutional rights of Khader 
M. Hamide and Michel I. Shehadeh by its "gross 
failure" to comply with his instructions to 
produce "potentially exculpatory and other relevant information."

In a scathing decision, Einhorn said the 
government's conduct in the case was "an 
embarrassment to the rule of law" that left "a 
festering wound on" Hamide and Shehadeh, who have 
been in legal and personal limbo for two decades.

The two men, both longtime legal residents of the 
United States, are part of a group that was 
dubbed "the L.A. 8" after the government launched 
attempts to deport them in January 1987. All 
eight denied that they were members of the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or 
PFLP, a radical offshoot of the Palestine 
Liberation Organization that has taken credit for 
airline hijackings and car bombings in the Middle East.

Hamide and Shehadeh, as well as the others, 
steadfastly maintained that they were being 
persecuted even though their political activities 
­ distributing newspapers, participating in 
demonstrations, assisting Palestinians with human 
rights and medical needs, raising money for 
hospitals, youth clubs and day-care centers ­ were lawful.

Einhorn's ruling "is a great decision that really 
vindicates what we have said all along," a 
jubilant Hamide said in an interview Tuesday. 
"The government spent millions of dollars and 
thousands of hours trying to deport us, and the 
only things they ever accused us of were constitutionally protected activity.

"The government should drop this case and leave 
us alone to lead normal lives ­ if there is such 
a thing after a case like this ­ and pursue real 
terrorists," said Hamide, 52, who lives in Chino 
Hills and is in the coffee distribution business.

Shehadeh, 50, said he was "feeling very, very 
good about the decision. This might be the moment 
we have been waiting for, for the last 20 years, 
a moment of relief and vindication."

But Shehadeh, who lives in Oregon, where one of 
his sons is in college, quickly added, "Another 
side of me is still cautious. After 20 years it 
becomes ingrained in you
. This might not be the end of it."

And indeed it might not be. The government has 
not said whether it will appeal the decision. A 
Justice Department spokesman said the agency had 
no comment. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment.

Prosecutors never filed criminal charges against 
any of the eight. Late last year, Aiad Barakat, 
another member of the L.A. 8, was sworn in as a 
U.S. citizen in Los Angeles. Three other members 
of the L.A. 8 have obtained permanent residency. 
One member of the group is still seeking that 
status, and the other has returned to the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Over two decades, the immigrants won a number of 
key decisions, including one from the U.S. 9th 
Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998 that held that 
the Constitution does not permit "guilt by 
association." That court ruled that the 
deportation of Hamide and Shehadeh could not go 
forward unless the government showed that the men 
intended to support the "illegal group goals of the PFLP."

But government lawyers twice persuaded Congress 
to change laws and make them retroactive in an 
effort to be able to deport the two men, said San 
Francisco attorney Marc Van Der Hout of the 
National Lawyers Guild, who has represented them for 20 years.

The two sides stipulated to Einhorn that the PFLP 
"engaged in terrorist activities" from 1984 to 
1986, but also provided day care, healthcare and 
Social Security services as well as cultural events.

This week's ruling was the second time Einhorn 
threw out the case. The judge said that the 
government missed the deadline for turning over 
exculpatory information by nine months and that 
even then its response was inadequate.

The judge said the government's conduct was 
particularly troubling given how long the case 
had taken and the nature of the charges.

"A reasonable argument could be made that if 
Hamide and Shehadeh have engaged in terrorist 
activity, particularly in the context of today's 
world, then the government would be prepared to 
move heaven and Earth ­ not to mention some 
mounds of paper ­ to complete the trial and deportation" of the duo.

In particular, Einhorn blasted John H. Clarkson 
III, assistant general counsel of the National 
Security Branch of the FBI, for responses to the 
court that were a "misuse of black-letter law," a 
reference to legal principles that are not disputable.

Einhorn said the government had broad but not 
unlimited powers in immigration matters.

"While this court may be one of limited 
jurisdiction, it is not an impotent institution," Einhorn wrote.

If there were no consequences for the 
government's failure to discharge its 
court-ordered responsibilities, it would mean 
that an immigration judge would be "reduced to 
the status of Blanche Dubois, who must rely on 
the kindness of strangers," he wrote, referring 
to the character in Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire."

"Judge Einhorn's decision is important not only 
for Hamide and Shehadeh, but for all immigrants 
in this country who want to be able to express 
their political views," Van Der Hout said.

"The decision makes clear that the government 
cannot blatantly refuse to comply with an 
immigration judge's orders and that the 
government cannot continue to try to deport these 
permanent residents who did nothing but try to 
advocate for Palestinians' right to a homeland ­ 
hardly a revolutionary belief in the 21st century."

Added Georgetown University law professor David 
Cole, who has been co-lead counsel for the L.A. 
8, on behalf of the Center for Constitutional 
Rights, since the case began: "For 20 years the 
government has been attempting to deport these 
individuals for political activities that would 
clearly be protected if they were U.S. citizens. 
We hope that the government will now move on and 
focus its efforts on real terrorists and not political activists."



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