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Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 8, No. 33 – August 13, 2005
Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News
Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity
Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499;
fax 212-674-9139; wnu@igc.org. INB is also distributed free via
email (see below).
On July 25, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added
new charges of deportability against Palestinians Khader Musa
Hamide and Michel Ibrahim Shehadeh, longtime US lawful permanent
residents the government has been seeking to deport for 18 years.
The new charges–brought under the REAL ID Act, approved on May
11 of this year [see INB 5/14/05]–allege that Hamide and
Shehadeh are deportable for having been members of the leftist
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). As with
“material support” charges filed against them in September 2003
under the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act, this deportable offense didn’t
exist at the time Hamide and Shehadeh were organizing fundraising
events for humanitarian organizations in the Middle East. The new
charges followed a July 7 order from Los Angeles immigration
judge Bruce Einhorn postponing indefinitely a hearing scheduled
for July 13.
Hamide and Shehadeh are part of the “LA 8,” a group of seven
Palestinians and one Kenyan arrested early in 1987 and initially
ordered deported under a provision of the 1952 McCarran-Walter
Act which barred advocating “the doctrines of world communism.”
Congress ultimately repealed the McCarran-Walter Act in 1990; the
US government has adjusted its deportability charges against
Hamide and Shehadeh at least five times, while pursuing minor
visa violations against the other six–several of whom later won
permanent residency. In February 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in
the LA 8 case that “[a]n alien unlawfully in this country has no
constitutional right to assert selective enforcement as a defense
against his deportation,” and that federal courts have no
jurisdiction to hear such claims [see INB 2/99]. [Committee for
Justice (www.committee4justice.com) 6/29/05, 7/9/05, 7/12/05,
8/3/05; Los Angeles Times 6/30/05, 7/14/05]
Immigration News Briefs (INB), a weekly English-language summary of US
immigration news, is forwarded out to the email list of the Coalition for
the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI). If you receive INB as a forwarded
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list (which includes INB and local NYC area events, average 4-5 messages a
week), write to nicajg@panix.com (indicate “CHRI list” or “INB only”).
Immigration News Briefs (INB), un resumen semanal en ingles de noticias
sobre inmigracion en los EE.UU., es enviado cada semana a la lista de
correo electronico de la Coalicion para los Derechos Humanos de los
Inmigrantes. Si el INB le llega como mensaje reenviado, y usted quiere
subscribir directamente al INB, o a la lista de correo de CHRI (que
incluye INB, mas anuncios de actividades en el area de NYC, promedio de
4-5 mensajes por semana), escriba al nicajg@panix.com (indique si quiere
“lista de CHRI” o “solo INB”).
Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted:
they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity
Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible
contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J.
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