The Los Angeles Deportation Cases

The United States government's unrelenting and, as yet, still unsubstantiated drive to deport a group of Los Angeles Palestinians because it considers them potential terrorists has unexpectedly given rise to a broad-based civil rights support movement that has been instrumental in shaping several key developments in the case. At its core is a coalition of organizations and individuals who are concerned that the case has implications far beyond the Palestinian issue and who fear it portends intensified government limits on immigrant political activities, with the specter raised of threatened deportation for those who speak out about unpopular causes. Even those who do not necessarily align themselves with Palestinian aspirations have found themselves lending support to the case over the issue of First Amendment rights for non-citizens. Specifically, however, the Los Angeles case revolves around the government's attempts to deport seven Palestinians who hold Jordanian passports, as well as the Kenyan-born wife of one of the seven. Two are legal permanent residents, several are students, and several have lived on the West Bank. The political nature of the case became evident when the