A former Irish National Liberation Army member is expected to be deported from the US to Ireland after losing a two-decade fight against expulsion.
Malachy McAllister turned himself in to immigration authorities in New Jersey on Tuesday and was due on a flight to Ireland on Wednesday, RTE reported.
McAllister served seven years in prison in Northern Ireland for attacks on police during the 1981 hunger strikes. After loyalists attacked his home in Belfast in 1988 he moved to the US.
He set up a construction business in New Jersey, supported the peace process and became prominent in Irish American circles.
A US immigration appeals board ordered McAllister’s deportation in 2003, triggering a marathon legal battle. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was among high-profile supporters who urged authorities to let him stay.
Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democratic senator, lamented the imminent expulsion and said McAllister had lived lawfully in the US. “He’s a good man and tireless advocate for the Irish peace process. Deporting him is shameful and will NOT make America any safer.”
The Ancient Order of Hibernians expressed sadness. “We have not just been forced to say goodbye to a member and a brother; his American-born US citizen grandchildren have been deprived of their grandfather, the Northern Ireland peace process has lost a voice in America, the US economy has lost an entrepreneur who created two successful tax-paying/job-producing businesses.”
Closely following the case of New Jersey Irish community leader Malachy McAllister who is now detained and under DHS custody.
— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) June 9, 2020
He's a good man and tireless advocate for the Irish Peace Process. Deporting him is shameful and will NOT make America any safer. https://t.co/L0Gnvfs6Do
One of the judges who heard McAllister’s case in 2006 was Donald Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry. She said then: “We cannot be the country we should be if, because of the tragic events of September 11th, we knee-jerk remove decent men and women merely because they may have erred at one point in their lives.”
The INLA was a republican paramilitary group that murdered more than 100 people during the Troubles, including the Tory MP Airey Neave in 1979.
