In 1987, the Reagan Administration charged seven Palestinian immigrants and one Kenyan with being associated with a group which published material that advocated international communism, using provisions of the McCarthy-era McCarran-Walter Act.

Sheila travelled to Los Angeles for a time to help with the case.

She wrote an article about the case for a journal published by the Association of Arab American University Graduates: “Palestinian Deportation Case Continues,” by Sheila Ryan, Mideast Monitor, IV, 2 (1987).

In 2007, after twenty years of legal battles, the McCarran-Walter Act was ruled unconstitutional and all of the charges were dropped.

You can read more about the “LA 8” case in a NY Times article during the case, one after the case was dismissed, and an editorial decrying the prosecution. Afterwards, defendant Michel Shehadeh talked about the case with Democracy Now and Alternate Focus.