Posted on 06/23/2006 8:37:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES
A federal judge ruled Friday that a Palestinian man whom the government had denied citizenship based on alleged ties with a terrorist group should become a citizen, the man's lawyers said.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that Aiad Barakat, one of the so-called "L.A. eight," will be naturalized, said Ahilan Arulanantham, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who litigated the case.
Barakat's citizenship application had been denied last year by immigration officials, and his lawyers appealed in federal court.
"The judge listened and found him to be credible," said Arulanantham. "It was very fact intensive testimony that would be very difficult to reverse on appeal."
Whether the government would appeal was unclear. Messages left with the U.S. Justice Department after business hours Friday were not immediately returned. Calls to Wilson's office Friday were also not returned.
Barakat, a 45-year-old construction site supervisor who lives in Arcadia, said he was elated.
"It feels like the nightmare is over and the dream is right in front of me now," said Barakat in a phone interview. "Now I'm going to return home and see my mom, who I haven't seen in 25 years."
The case of the "L.A. eight" goes back to 1987, when Barakat, six other Palestinians and a Kenyan were arrested for alleged associations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The PFLP has opposed peace negotiations between the PLO and Israel, and the U.S. government considers it a terrorist organization. All eight have denied being members.
In 1997, Barakat and another Palestinian in the group were granted legal residency after the government had initially tried to deport all eight.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said two of the Palestians were currently in deportation hearings. The immigration status of the others was not immediately known.
The group won a victory in 1989 when a judge struck down as unconstitutional portions of a federal law that allowed deportation to be based on political affiliation and advocacy.
Government lawyers had argued Barakat lied during immigration interviews seeking citizenship. They said Barakat stated he did not know whether a man he had met with at a rally in support of Palestinians, Ali Kased, was a high-ranking member of the Palestinian movement.
When Kased died last year, an obituary in a PFLP magazine identified him as a longtime member who had founded a PFLP branch in the United States, according to government lawyers.
Barakat's attorneys argued he had a right to engage in political activity, and may not have remembered the 1985 meeting when questioned by immigration officials.
fyi
Judge Wilson
Reagan appointee, 1985
Sounds like this guy is a lib...
Federal Judge Rules Parts of Church Land-Use Law Unconstitutional
Groups plan to help Elsinore Christian Center appeal zoning case.
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service | posted 07/11/2003
A California district judge has declared a portion of the law aimed at helping houses of worship overcome land-use disputes unconstitutional.
In a little-noticed ruling filed June 24 in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, Judge Stephen V. Wilson said Congress "redefined First Amendment rights" by passing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/127/54.0.html
Reagan era appointee
sorry. you posted while i was researching.
Weren't those drug trafficker's Sonny Bono was looking into Palestinian? (before that tree broke his neck)
ping
Scooter Libby was indicted for not remembering...and the ACLU uses that reasoning as a base for a lack of culpability.
I wonder if Libby can use the same defense?
the old double standard thing.. I hear ya.
And Sandra Day is upset we take exception to judges?
We should publicly stone some of these turds.
So, the USCIS should have simply done what it does to many other naturalization applicants after they have completed every step except the oath: take years to complete the background checks, thereby never allowing or denying the application.
USCIS seems to lose essential papers for many applicants. Why can't they simply concentrate on losing the papers of undesirable immigration applicants?
Or, the USCIS should have revoked this guy's permanent residency visa and deported him before rejecting his naturalization application.
This is an OUTRAGE, and obviously, this is an ACTIVIST JUDGE!
The other members of the group were Julie Mungai, the Kenyan wife of Khader Hamide; Bashar Amer; Aiad Barakat; Amjad Obeid; Ayman Obeid; and Naim Sharif. -——LA TIMES
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