Irish green card holder resident in US for four decades detained by ICE officers

A 54-year aged Irish pistillate who has lived legally successful the United States for much than 4 decades has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) connected the ground of a supposedly expunged 20-year aged transgression conviction.

Cliona Ward, who is primitively from Dublin, has lived successful the US since she was 12 years aged and holds a greenish card.

Ward was detained by ICE connected 19 March aft returning from a travel to Ireland to sojourn her father, who suffers from dementia.

"She was handcuffed, shackled her and escorted her though the airdrome - similar a hardened criminal. She was mortified, shamed and demoralised," her sister, Orla Holladay, wrote connected the leafage to rise funds for her ineligible defence.

After her archetypal detention, Ward — who presently lives successful Santa Cruz successful the authorities of California — was reportedly asked to supply documentation to beryllium her condemnation had been expunged.

Detained a 2nd time

However, erstwhile Ward presented her documents to ICE officials astatine San Francisco airdrome connected 21 April, she was detained again.

"She followed each the instructions...for a expected administrative meeting, which was successful world and effort to instrumentality her into custody," wrote Holladay.

According to tribunal documents seen by Newsweek, Ward has a transgression grounds which includes 2 felonies for cause possession and 4 misdemeanours.

Holladay told Newsweek that portion her sister has a past transgression grounds and had been an addict, she has been cleanable for 2 decades.

Democrat Congressman Jimmy Panetta who represents Santa Cruz said "it's unimaginable that a reportedly expunged, 20-year-old incidental could beryllium utilized arsenic justification for deporting a ineligible imperishable nonmigratory who is simply a productive subordinate of our community."

"As a erstwhile pack prosecutor, I recognize and admit the request to region hardened criminals from our communities, but the detention of Cliona Ward — present successful her 50s and a Green Card holder — for decades-old crimes that person reportedly been expunged from her idiosyncratic grounds is unfathomable and unacceptable", helium added.

Citizenship rights

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Euronews it was "aware of the lawsuit and providing consular assistance", but that "as with each consular cases, the Department does not remark connected the details of idiosyncratic cases."

Meanwhile, Irish Taioseach Micheál Martin told nationalist broadcaster RTÉ, "Where radical person greenish cards and citizenship rights determination shouldn’t beryllium an contented truthful we volition beryllium pursuing this connected a bilateral ground to marque definite that those who are legitimately entitled to beryllium successful the US are escaped from immoderate challenges oregon difficulties of this kind."

Since US President Trump was sworn successful in January, helium has promoted a hard-line migration argumentation and a increasing fig of Europeans who unrecorded legally successful the US person been incarcerated successful ICE detention centres for chartless reasons.