Local : Judge Rules Out Deportation for PLO Ties, Espousing Communism

A federal judge today struck down portions of the McCarran-Walter Act that allow deportation of aliens for affiliation with the Palestine Liberation Organization or for advocating world communism.

The ruling in Los Angeles came in the case of seven Palestinians and a Kenyan whom the Immigration and Naturalization Service tried to deport because they allegedly associated with the PLO. Attorneys said they were uncertain how the ruling would affect the attempt to deport the seven aliens.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said he believed that by invoking the McCarthy-era law, “the government is trying to stifle certain ideas from entering our society. . . . Our society, however, was built on the premise that only through the free flow of ideas can our nation grow and prosper.”