The U.S. government dropped deportation proceedings against two people accused of assisting terrorists.
They are the last two of eight people, called the “L.A. Eight,” accused in 1987 of abetting Palestinian terrorists.
The Board of Immigration Appeals on Oct. 30 dismissed charges remaining against Khader Hamide and Michel Shehadeh, the last of the “L.A. Eight” jailed in 1987 for supporting the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, primarily through the distribution of the PFLP’s publication, Al Hadaf, which was freely available in public libraries.
Throughout the years, the government used a number of tactics and laws to oust the eight – seven Palestinians and a Kenyan married to one of the Palestinians – including their alleged affiliations with communists and terrorists. The case came to a head in January when a Los Angeles-based immigration judge, Bruce Einhorn, blasted the government’s case as “an embarrassment to the rule of law.”
The Department of Homeland Security settled the case after the court vacated findings of prosecutorial misconduct.
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