Showing posts with label Irish political deportees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish political deportees. Show all posts
Martin Galvin thinks all is not lost for Malachy McAllister, recently deported from the US.

Despite anger at the injustice done to Malachy McAllister, we must not overlook all that he won and what can still be won for him. Senators, Congressmen, Cardinals, law enforcement officials and so many Irish American leaders were not inspired to back a criminal. Over a quarter of a century he became, through no wish of his own, a living example of victims of British injustice. Americans must now use his case to fight the injustice of his deportation.

Malachy McAllister was a political prisoner decades ago, in a war now long over. It was a conflict in which he and his children were targeted for assassination, by the forces of British law and order, using loyalist agents.

Once America welcomed those who fled British rule under such circumstances, and benefitted from the political ability, hard work and leadership they gave with the opportunities denied them under British rule. Malachy's deportation was un-American, violating historic American tradition.

Few individuals could have inspired the sympathy and support needed to kept Malachy in America so long. Senators Menendez, Schumer, Congressmen King, Engel, Smith, Neal and Pascrell among others personally intervened time and again. Cardinal Dolan called the President. Many law enforcement and military officials publicly vouched for him. The Irish Embassy backed him. The AOH and other Irish organizations campaigned for him. Malachy became a leading AOH member fighting for others.

Irish Americans saw his children, who stood with Malachy as he prepared to walk to the federal building for deportation, and remembered they were targets for bullets fired into their Belfast home.

Irish Americans saw a man honored as an Aide to former Police Chief Ray Kelley on St. Patrick's Day, and remembered this same man was driven to fight against the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the circumstances of the 1981 Hunger Strike and imprisoned for it.

Irish Americans saw a man who built successful businesses, employing others, and remembered the sectarian system he faced while growing up, denied him such opportunities.

Malachy has multiple grounds which should have entitled him to full legal permanent residence under American law. The Good Friday and Weston Park agreements were thought to hold promises for ex-prisoners which were never kept.

Malachy McAllister became a political pawn, in the old British game of criminalization. The British think it politically advantageous to indelibly brand Republican opponents as criminals. In the north that policy is behind changing the definition of victim and to disqualify injured Republican ex-prisoners from conflict pensions. The British want the American government on board through deportation courts and visa denial.

Already Eliot Engel has become the first member of Congress calling for moves to reverse Malachy's deportation. Such a campaign could be the start of a bigger victory for Malachy McAllister and for justice.


Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Malachy McAllister's Victory