that day immigration agents arrested seven young palestinians and a kenyan woman the media branded them the l a eight the government then attempted to deport the eight immigrants charging them with supporting communism under a cold war era law the l a eight were all active in raising awareness of the palestinian cause in their los angeles community through cultural events and fundraisers officials say that if the l a eight had been united states citizens there would have been no basis for their arrest and  this case has become not only a personal battle for the l e eight but a struggle for the constitutional rights of all immigrants in the united states alternate focus interviews michelle shanghai day one of the original l a eight day was born in the west bank of palestine he came to the united states as a young man seeking a higher education and freedom from the israeli occupation as a college student was active in educating his fellow classmates in community about the palestinian cause because of his pro palestinian stance he became a target for deportation by the federal government since his arrest in one nine hundred eighty seven and the other members of the l a eight have been in a twenty year long legal battle despite  obstacles has become a permanent resident of the u s and a successful business owner this is his story education and enjoy our perception of all what the constitution offered for the citizens of than i did states in terms of freedoms we really internalize that so when we came over here and specifically when i came over here i had the perception of america that i put together through watch and some of the american the programs t v programs enjoys abundance and other areas it was crime drugs and violence through some of the police stories that we used to watch the programs but when i came and i began to see the diversity of the ethnic diversity of the society i'm beginning to learn about latino as african americans puerto rican and i didn't feel that being an arab american and use it to tell our story to educate our classmates educate our campus community about who we are as we see ourselves not as we were defined and as portrayed by others  hence started my activism using culture to does bring in our dances our songs or close to campus and in the same time speaking out after one year of being on campus can you couldn't shut me off i really love the idea that i can i can be free because living under an israeli occupation as a teenager the most frustrating thing wasn't really the physical effect of the military occupation our it was more the mental effect off of the occupation as a teenager who couldn't speak say anything opinion because the consequences of that was very dire you go to jail where you  beat up on many things i was speaking about gay rights u s intervention and sensor law and south america south africa but the dearest issue to me was the palestinian issue that that's my  also my people and i want to tell their story and it seems that maybe we've been achieving some successes because and campus people have started to know us as people started to see who we east to stop us from telling our story and to have a chilling effect and an example to that of american politics in american communities that this is what happens to you if you oppose our point of view meaning the government and by defacto a chilling effect and an example to all immigrants and the united states those immigrants who come from places where u s policies affect and have consequences on but they don't want them to come and tell their own experiences they want only one story to be spread out through the american public and that's their own which most of the time from my experience was as i was taken out of course my son came frantically crying at that at that point trying to find me because of this or that  man very hostile being in there and i remember trying to to go to him and agent told me if i was you i would then move and and then you will you don't want anything happening to you in front of your son and i got soft frayed and not for myself to do the truth is for my son and one agent to grab him as as if a stuffed animal with on the couch and the kid just terrified and then they took me out and i tried to really tell him little me make a phone call to my wife you know and one of the agent it seems that we're giving him too many options and then you know that agent to see him then charge let me make a phone call so i called maxine and i told her don't ask me for explanations just come home you know i've been a rested and then they took me away and left the kid behind them by himself if it wasn't for our ex our neighbor actually the landlord the chinese lady chinese american lady who realized what happened that she screamed at me or yelled say don't worry we'll take care of them that that's really is my mind my mind and when i came out i tell you it was a sight that i will never forget three local police cars parked in front of the house all of them outside and posture of disappeared of confrontation you know their weapons are aimed at the house and a helicopter hovering above the  street from both sides has been barricaded in a way i thought then you know maybe they're making a mistake maybe it's a drug bust or something and they made the wrong turn you know but unfortunately that wasn't the case it was about being a palestinian being accused of something that the public would support and they've been doing this hype in front of the media to really tell the story that was palestine or was that in america central america or other other countries but this is the latest that we live now is the latest  coming down you know his chin it's really he was nervous also if i look if i try to reflect on what had happened you know the local police number of agents and all of that they didn't if they were really watching us and and you know writing to poor it's i cannot believe for one second  they believe that we were dangerous i think they wanted to get out a story through the media to to to give them pressure and that's where we were dangerous now at the top who people who made the decision  and we knew later on through the court that it was a do in means himself who made the decision and it won miss was attorney general during reagan's time and it seems to me they knew exactly what they were doing and the sense that they wanted to give an example about them fighting terrorism second they had some contingency plans which we know about they were wrong to how to deal with the arab american community and i'll talk about this later and case of war with libya if you remember then it was reagan's war with libya so they looked for the right people to achieve this and they thought we are the weakest link all they have to do is is find some palestinian those people belong to that i'm going to ization and that said nobody would lift a finger to defend them fortunately through what activism and campus our connection to the community our connection to the civil rights movement world coming ism and the economic international i don't know what that means but you know you can take a crack at try to understand what that means but exactly what it meant that we were not educating ourselves we wilson ruled that immigrants have the same first amendment rights as citizens and that the mccarran walter act was unconstitutional this was a huge victory for the ele eight but short lived after the government appealed the decision continuing the legal battle a year later the ele eight appealed to congress to review the outdated be carried water act we brought this law to that issue of the congress who looked at it and said wow you know so they repealed it and they gave us which was not classified as illegal and you know something our attorneys have told us that when they charge us of belonging to the being affiliate with the organization i was done later this is how dangerous these things are the patriot act has this search activity ability that you can be charged under the patriot act for something you have done twenty years ago there was not illegal then you can be deported today for things that could be construed as criminal acts today on the  that were not then and this is what the government is doing in our case we are charged again under the patriot and remember we're talking about the other charges of not being dropped too so it's like an admission of charges when i said that this case has been used as a test case to establish legal precedence for them to use it against to stop immigrants from being politically active except you know supporting their policies and and the centime especially about the palestinian case sometimes through fear the public is as afraid and they believe this because many people do not believe that the government could do such a thing that they don't have any political aims but they do and we believe and it's been proved through throughout these twenty  their point of view you get benefits in two thousand and six one of the original l a eight i e barack had won his case and his citizenship after twenty years of fighting against his deportation he had scase was a tremendous victory for because for the first time twenty years ago this is the first time that our voice has been heard and the court has always been the lawyers debating and this is the first time he had spoke and he represent our voice and the judge believed him and didn't believe the government and he told them right in their face i believe him i don't believe you you guys give us the zero plus zero equals zero and this case and yes it is hard yes it is twenty years of struggle yes it is being worried about you know and not able to achieve many of our dreams when we came over here but concepts and principles that makes us better human beings and relation to each other there is an end to this because the end to this is not just the laws because now even the judges have a say in this can through this case have also achieved success is and victories if people shy away from firing back then what you're saying in the sense that there is no end to this because laws will be coming out every year to keep this case going that's true but fighting back through the courts pays off so if we decided to just despite all of that all of us and they have prospered in many ways have raised kids have raised our families we've raised them through the things that we learned through through this experience is how important to be free and the mind in the heart and the soul how important it is to to stand up and really fight and make a difference and in the same time mak and no matter what happens in october of two thousand and seven in one victorious move the government completely dismissed its case against michelle day and the other remaining defended through their tremendous struggle the l e a ted help to secure the civil rights of all immigrants in the u s today and into our future  it was supposed to be lebanon's best tourist season since before the civil war that year we actually were hoping to expect major international concerts snoop dog jay z we've already seen fift over eleven hundred lebanese were killed over one hundred sixty israelis were killed this is lebanon story in my interpreter went out to the western border of syria and interviewed people that were  streaming out and all of them were talking about civilian houses being bombed people were talking about hospitals being bombed and ambulances being bombed paper factories milk plants all these things were being targeted and we had a total bridges were hit all the road so all the primary roads post secondary roads and so the country was cut off from the outside totally almost widely known now and admitted also by the israeli military that they used both cluster bombs and life on a very very disconcerting thing that the israelis were doing and it became a pattern is the w