US Administration decisons target Irish America
Published: 22 November, 2003
Action Alert
Last week, a stunning sequence of events leave little doubt the Irish American Community, and the Irish Peace Process along with it, are being targeted by elements within the US Administration.
20 Nov 2003, Virginia and New Jersey
The Virginia based Court of Immigration Appeals denies Malachy McAllister’s appeal against deportation. It also reverses the previous court decision to grant asylum to his wife Bernadette and four children, residents of New Jersey for almost a decade, giving them 30 days to leave the country. Malachy’s emergency appeal is before the same Philadelphia Circuit Court that without warning deported John McNicholl last July. [Mr. McNicholl lived peacefully and productively in Philadelphia for 20 years and his family were all US citizens. All were forced to leave this country.]
17 Nov, Denver, Colorado
Ciaran Ferry is denied his asylum appeal on an immigration judge’s opinion that the offenses for which he was convicted by a juryless, special court in the political conflict in the north of Ireland were “serious nonpolitical crimes” and that Mr. Ferry, becaue he was convicted of this offense, “participated in the persecution of others.” In fact, he was given 22 years in prison in 1993 when 2 guns and ammunition were found in a car in which he was a passenger.
Judge Vandello cited an old 1980s case as precedent setting, as if the present peace process has changed nothing. Ciaran was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
13 Nov, Somewhere over the Atlantic
Donald Browne, age 44, Damien McCafferty, age 35, and David Curtis, age 31, all from Derry, are aboard British Airline Flight 215 headed from London to Boston. Each has an immigration form with a question which asks if he has ever been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude.
14 Nov, Logan Airport, Boston, Mass
Agents of The US Attorney’s Anti-Terrorism Unit, The Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New England, Field Ops of Customs and Border Protection, and The Federal Bureau of Investigation await the arrival of Flight 215.
Browne is arrested on the spot and charged for making false statements on an immigration document. Mr Browne was convicted of offenses in 1986 for his role as an Irish Republican Army Volunteer in the conflict in the north of Ireland.
Various US law enforcement agencies jointly announce the arrest as a breakthrough in the war on terrorism.
If found guilty of marking the wrong box on his form, Donald Browne faces 25 years in a US federal prison followed by 5 years probation and 1/4 of a million dollars fine.
18 Nov, Boston, Mass
The Department of Homeland Security along with Special Agents of the FBI assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force announce that David Curtis and Damien McCafferty are also in custody and are being charged with “conspiracy and making false statements on an immigration document.”
According to the complaint, Mr Curtis, “assisted” by McClafferty, made a false statement with regards a 1997 conviction of a crime committed in England for which he is on probation.
If convicted of these charges, each face up to 30 years imprisonment, 5 years in supervised release, and a 1/2 million dollars fine.
The Near Future, Washington, DC
The Senate is about to confirm a new UK/US Extradition Treaty that transfers responsibility for dealing with extradition requests from the US Federal Courts to the Executive Branch – most likely the Department of Justice and/or the Department of Homeland Security -- the same people who gave us the abuses above.
Any American citizen or resident would face potential detention and deportation to Britain without the need for any showing of the facts by the UK sufficient to show “probable cause.” In fact, the treaty requires a bare recitation of unsupported allegations.
The treaty eliminates a statute of limitations. It allows for arrest and detention of US citizens and residents for 60 days upon request and allows for seizure of assets in the US by the British government. The treaty allows for extradition for one offense, then subsequent prosecution in Great Britain for an unrelated offense. And that’s not all.
Political Action
There is a significant election less than a year away. Republicans need to use their influence on the administration and Democrats need to assert themselves. Political people, by and large, are expert at shifting blame and pointing fingers.
Somebody better be in charge of this country.
All members of congress and senators can be reached through the congressional switchboard at [202] 225-3121.
The McAllister family is the absolute priority considering the desperate nature of their situation. Bernadette and her four children have been given 30 days to leave the U.S. Malachy faces immediate deportation. The INS will not guarantee to halt his deportation while the emergency appeals are processed.
For the Ferry and McNicholl families, the three men held in Boston, the UK/US Extradition Treaty, and whatever is headed our way over the coming weeks, we now know that despite the fact that Irish Republicans and Irish Americans are in the forefront of the Irish Peace Process and support for the Good Friday Agreement, we are under attack by our own government and it doesn’t make sense.