Stiff sentence sought for Chicago woman in immigration case

DETROIT (AP) - Federal prosecutors in Detroit are seeking at least five years in prison for a Chicago activist who didn't tell U.S. immigration officials about her conviction decades ago for bombings in Israel.

The government is even invoking the Islamic State extremists in its recommendation to a judge, saying a light sentence for Rasmieh Odeh would send a signal that "there's not much risk" in coming to the U.S. and hiding one's past.

The 67-year-old Odeh runs daily operations at Chicago's Arab American Action Network. In November, she was convicted of failing to disclose her 1969 conviction for bombings in Jerusalem when she applied for citizenship in Detroit in 2004.

Odeh returns to court on March 12. She hopes to stay out of prison, although she eventually will be deported.