To bring down a building, one attacks the pillars – it is the same in a community. Today (Nov. 13), Rasmea Odeh, a pillar of the Palestinian-American community of Chicago will be arraigned in the U.S. District Court, 231 W Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, charged with immigration fraud.

The Department of Homeland Security alleges Rasmea did not disclose her arrest by an Israeli military court, which happened over 45 years ago, on her application for U.S. citizenship. Rasmea could face up to ten years in prison and the revocation of her citizenship.

The struggle now being carried on in her defense has been publicized in the U.S. and across the Arab world, where the story of how Rasmea, an educator and Chicago Cultural Alliance “Outstanding Community Leader” of 2013, was arrested in her own home and forced into a costly legal defense by the actions of the Department of Homeland Security, to the dismay of the communities Rasmea served for so many years.

Community activists are prepared to pack the courtroom, and to continue the fight until the charges are dropped. The American Party of Labor recognizes the actions of the Department of Homeland Security as discriminatory and cowardly and affirms our full and unconditional solidarity with Rasmea Odeh and her defense.

Drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh!

Categories: Colonialism, Government, Imperialism, International, Israel, Palestine, Racist Oppression, Statements, U.S. News, Workers Struggle, Zionism