George Christensen has questioned the merit of immigration authorities moving to deport an elderly man who migrated 30 years ago with his family under assumed identities after fleeing the US amid drug-smuggling allegations.
Christensen on Friday joined his fellow federal MP Bob Katter in support of Patton Eidson, 73, a popular north Queensland resort owner who was taken into detention after a raid on his home by 15 border force officials on Wednesday.
Eidson’s looming deportation to the US, where authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in 1989 over an alleged conspiracy to import cannabis but have since declined to apply for his extradition, is the latest step in an extraordinary saga.
Eidson, his late wife, Sonja, and daughter, Maya, then 16, arrived on false passports in 1986 and made a new life in Julatten in north Queensland as owners of a “wellness” resort.
Their true identities were revealed in 2011 and each was convicted of migration and identity fraud. But the family, who say the drug allegations in the US are false, retain overwhelming support in their local communities and the backing of their federal MPs to stay.
In regard to the family’s entry to Australia, Christensen said it was “quite obvious that Patton Eidson has broken the rules and there are consequences for breaking the rules”.
“However, he is an old man and I am not sure about the benefits of this outcome [detention and deportation],” he told Guardian Australia. “Regardless of my views on Patton, I am not really in a position to stop the process.”
Eidson’s conviction and sentence of two years jail made cancellation of his visa mandatory under the Migration Act, he said.
Katter said the unexpected detainment of Eidson, “this poor 73-year-old bloke who’s just lost his wife and was responsible for some alleged misdemeanour nearly half a century ago” was “just sickening”.
“The horrible insensitivity of what has occurred here is appalling and we will be saying so in formal questions with notice to the two ministers involved,” he said. “If you’re using government resources to terrorise a well-loved, popular, respectable citizen, you’d say it’s a waste of resources.”
Christensen said he was “strenuously opposed” to any move to deport Maya “given that she was a child when her family entered Australia using false identities”.
She is a constituent of Christensen’s, living and running a popular restaurant in his hometown of Mackay with her daughter.
Maya, who became an Australian citizen under her assumed name of Sharon Gregory, sponsored her father for an aged parent visa on his release after serving six months in jail.
But last April, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, revoked her citizenship over her “convictions for citizenship and migration related fraud”, a spokeswoman from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said.
At the same time, Dutton decided that Eidson, with his outstanding warrants in the US and his sentence of more than 12 months, “failed to meet character requirements under section 501 of the Migration Act”, the spokeswoman said.
The Eidsons arrived in Australia in 1986 as Mike and Anita McGoldrick, using false passports using birth certificates supplied by a terminally ill friend. They fled California following Eidson’s arrest along with some associates who were charged with conspiracy to smuggle cannabis from Thailand.
Eidson had been questioned and released without charge, which had raised suspicions among members of the drug ring he had turned witness, Maya said.
Despite no charges, Eidson and Sonja were hit with $2m bills by US tax authorities for supposed drug profits, under laws since repealed.
Panicked by the debt and an anonymous warning he should “disappear”, Eidson, who was “trying to keep his family safe and together”, did just that, Maya said.
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she told Guardian Australia. “I was kept fairly sheltered from this at the time – all I know was they were very scared. I guess he maybe acted hastily or maybe didn’t think things all the way through properly when he made certain decisions but it was due to fear and trying to keep his family safe.”
The couple in 1991 bought what would become north Queensland’s first “wellness retreat”, employing more than 40 people and establishing community ties.
The death of their late friend’s widow, the real Anita McGoldrick, in 2009 eventually led US authorities to discover the misuse of her identity.
A tip-off to Australia resulted in the Eidsons being arrested on migration and identity fraud charges in 2011.
A prosecutor told the district court in Cairns in 2012, the family had “not only … led a blameless existence but they have been helpful to the economy of the local community of Julatten and are well-loved and respected there”.
The judge noted Eidson’s were the most glowing authentic character references he had seen. Eidson was sentenced to two years jail, serving six months. His wife and daughter, who by now become a citizen in her assumed name, were given good behaviour bonds.
Sonja died from cancer in February.
Maya, who is due to contest her loss of citizenship in the administrative appeals tribunal in August, said she and her father had assumed the risk of deportation – in the form of 28 days notice to leave – would not arise until then.
“My father was still in the grieving process for my mum as she only passed away a few months ago,” she said. “He was really just at home minding his own business, not hurting anybody or doing anything to anyone, and just trying to get over his loss when all this happened.
“It seems just a bit harsh, really. A bit of an overkill.”
Katter went further.
“This sort of thing that happened last night to Patton, it terrifies people.”
The immigration department spokeswoman said the Eidsons had “had their case comprehensively assessed over many years by the department, the courts, various ministers and the administrative appeals tribunal”.
“Mr Eidson has failed in his bid to obtain a visa and he has been detained ahead of his removal from Australia,” she said. “The department treats all cases of migration and identity fraud very seriously.”
