From beginning to end, the persecution of the L.A. Eight--seven Palestinians and one Kenyan immigrant living in the Los Angeles area--by U.S. authorities has been a blatant assault on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and association. At the time of their arrest in 1987, they were accused under the witch-hunting McCarran-Walter Act with "advocating world communism." Since then, the government has failed to produce a shred of evidence of any "criminal activity"--unless you count expressing their political views and raising money for Palestinian hospitals, youth clubs, and child care centers. When none of their "terrorism" charges would stick, the FBI turned the eight immigrants--all of whom are either permanent residents or eligible for legal residence--over to the INS for deportation.

Over the last 14 years the L.A. Eight have won some important legal victories. These include a ruling by a federal district judge that the McCarran-Walter Act is unconstitutional, as well as a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the Constitution does not permit "guilt by association." Nevertheless, the Clinton administration actively pursued the case, seeking to use the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act to speed their deportation. In February 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1996 immigration law not only denies those facing deportation access to the district courts but that it can be enforced selectively. "The Executive should not have to disclose its 'real' reasons for deeming nationals of a particular country a special threat--or indeed for simply wishing to antagonize a particular foreign country by focusing on that country's nationals," asserted Justice Antonin Scalia on behalf of the majority.

The L.A. Eight case highlights how anti-immigrant legislation is being used by Democratic and Republican politicians alike as a way to get their foot in the door to attack democratic rights. In addition to trying to deport individuals for their political views, the 1996 law made it easier for the INS to deport any noncitizen convicted of any crime. Another measure approved by Congress and signed by Clinton the same year--the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act--allows the government to hold noncitizens in "preventive detention" on the basis of "secret evidence." Over the last five years some two dozen people have been imprisoned under these Star Chamber rules, most of them immigrants from Arab or majority Muslim countries. And many states have begun to demand a Social Security number to obtain a drivers license, limiting the job options of millions of immigrants and taking a step toward establishing a form of national identity card.

The target of these encroachments on civil liberties is much broader than immigrants. They anticipate the more draconian measures the U.S. rulers will need in the coming years to protect their system, as the class struggle sharpens and working people act to defend our living and working conditions.

All workers, farmers, and supporters of democratic rights should join with the L.A. Eight in demanding the INS drop all further charges and end its deportation efforts.
 
 
Related articles:
Israel plans all-out war on Palestinians
Palestinians in Los Angeles push back deportation  
 
 
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