Judge ‘Inclined’ to Let Deportation Case Lawyers Challenge Fairness

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said Friday that he was “inclined” to allow lawyers for a group of Los Angeles-area immigrants begin discovery proceedings to determine whether they are unable to obtain fair hearings in Immigration Court proceedings after the nation’s top Immigration Court appellate official participated on a secret government committee that shaped plans to apprehend and deport alien terrorists.

Wilson made the statement during a hearing in a Los Angeles civil rights case filed on behalf of seven Palestinians and a Kenyan who were arrested in January, 1987, and jailed for almost two weeks on charges that they belonged to a Palestinian group with a history of terrorism, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The immigrants, who are fighting deportation, denied the charges.

It was revealed in July that David Milhollan, director of the executive office for immigration review, which oversees the nation’s two dozen immigration courts, served on the Alien Border Control Committee for three years. The information came from previously classified government documents released after a Freedom of Information Act suit was filed by an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU is among the groups representing the immigrants in the case here.

The immigrants’ lawyers assert that Milhollan’s dual role “taints” the government’s deportation cases against them. The Justice Department said the plaintiffs have not made enough of a showing that there is a problem to warrant questioning of Milhollan or his counsel, Jay Hurwitz.

But on Friday, Wilson said he is “inclined” to allow them some discovery. A hearing has been set for Nov. 14.

On another key issue in the case, however, Wilson issued a tentative ruling that was termed “very unfortunate” by David Cole, one of the immigrants’ lawyers.

The immigrants asked Wilson to strike down a section of the McCarthy-era McCarran-Walter Act. Under that act, subversion charges have been brought against two of the eight immigrants by the Justice Department.

But Wilson said he was disinclined to strike down the section because the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering an appeal of an earlier ruling by Wilson that struck down other portions of the McCarran-Walter Act. Wilson said he thought it was inappropriate to make another decision on a similar issue until the appeals court rules.

In December, in a landmark decision, Wilson had ruled that alien residents have the same broad free speech rights as citizens and declared unconstitutional key provisions of the McCarran Walter Act. The action covered recent congressional amendments that specifically applied to the Palestine Liberation Organization.