An Irish woman who has been living legally in the United States for decades has been taken into detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a trip to Ireland to visit her sick father.
Cliona Ward (54), who went to the US in her early teens and is the sole carer for a son with special needs, is in an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington state, according to the enforcement agency’s website.
Her sister, Orla Holladay, who also lives in the US, said Ward travelled back to Ireland recently with their stepmother to visit their father, who has dementia.
On her return to the US, Ward, who has been living in Santa Cruz, California, for more than 30 years, was questioned about drug possession convictions from more than a decade ago that have reportedly been “expunged” under state but not under federal law.
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A holder of a valid green card, Ward was held when she landed at San Francisco International Airport as queries were raised about the past convictions.
She was then released but returned to the airport last Monday to show documentation to officials from US Customs and Border Protection recording how the convictions had been expunged.
However, she was taken into custody, moved to a detention facility outside Seattle, Washington, and, according to reports, is now due before the courts until May 7th next.
Her sister has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to pay for legal representation for her sister.
On Saturday, Holladay posted a note saying she had spoken to Ward and that her sister, though depressed, was taking comfort from expressions of concern about her case.
“She shared that, although she can’t speak with the majority of the women in there because most don’t speak English, they have been giving each other support and there are lots of tears and hugs between the women.”
Kenneth Cook McKnight, who went to high school with Ward in Sacramento, California, said she had been living legally in the US for more than 30 years.
“She had travelled multiple times back and forth to Ireland to see family over the years and never had a problem, until now, and obviously what is different now is the current political climate here, and the administration.”
US Representative Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat from California, said in a statement it was “unimaginable that a reportedly expunged, decades-old crime could be used as justification for deporting a legal permanent resident who is a productive member of our community.”
As a former gang prosecutor, he said, he understood the need to remove hardened criminals from communities, but Ward’s detention for crimes that have been expunged was “unacceptable and unfathomable”.
The Washington state facility where Ward is being held is one of the largest immigration prisons in the US, according to the Northwest Immigration Rights Project website.
The facility can hold 1,575 inmates and is run for ICE by the GEO Group, a publicly-quoted corporation with its headquarters in Florida that provides prisons and mental health facilities and other services to government clients.
