FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          SG
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1995                         (202) 616-0901
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
   JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO GO BACK TO COURT WITH MORE EVIDENCE
 TO DEPORT ALIENS ACCUSED OF FUND-RAISING FOR RADICAL TERRORIST
                         ORGANIZATION 


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Continuing its efforts to fight
terrorist activities in the U.S. and around the world, the
Justice Department announced today that it will return to trial
court in Los Angeles to seek leave to deport eight aliens accused
of raising money in the United States for the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).  The PFLP engages in
terrorist activities.

     By returning to trial court, the government intends to
present a full evidentiary record to show that the aliens were
engaged in providing material support to a terrorist
organization.  Until now, the trial court has decided only
preliminary motions about the legality of deportation proceedings
against the plaintiffs.

     The United States has been seeking to deport the eight
aliens who are the plaintiffs in this case since 1987.  Last
month, a 9th Circuit panel upheld a preliminary injunction
against deportation of six of the plaintiffs.  The appellate
injunction stays deportation actions against these illegal aliens
until the courts can determine whether the government seeks to
deport them based on their support for the PFLP, and, if so,
whether their deportation would violate the First Amendment. 

     Rather than seek further appellate review of the Circuit
Court decision, the government announced that it will return to
the trial court and seek to establish the facts that support its
authority to deport these aliens.  Solicitor General Drew Days
today signed a memorandum that expressed the government's intent
not to appeal the 9th Circuit's November 8 decision, American-
Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm. v. Reno (No. 94-55404, etc.).

     The Justice Department maintains that in the government's
administration of the immigration laws, it may consider the fact
that particular aliens have used their presence in this country
to provide money to a terrorist organization that is actively
opposed to the interests of the United States and its allies. 

     The government does not argue that non-citizens are without
protection under the First Amendment.  It does argue that the
government need not stand by while aliens raise money for hostile
terrorist groups.

     The Justice Department also stated that it would continue to
enforce Executive Order 12947, signed by President Clinton
earlier this year, which bars anyone -- citizen or alien -- from
providing material support to the PFLP or other specified
international terrorist organizations.  

     In another portion of its November 8 ruling, the Ninth
Circuit held that the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) could not rely on classified information to deny
legalization to two of the illegal aliens who applied under the
special one-year amnesty program enacted by Congress in 1986.  
The government will not use such evidence in those proceedings. 
The Court of Appeals' ruling does not bar the INS from relying on
other evidence to deny amnesty to the two aliens involved, nor
does it bar the INS from deporting them based on their support
for the PFLP.

     The Administration strongly supports the Comprehensive Anti-
Terrorism Act of 1995, which would establish special court
procedures for use in deportation cases involving classified
information, procedures designed to protect important national
interests and fairness to petitioners.  The legislation has
passed the Senate, but has not been acted on by the House of
Representatives.

                               ###


95-640