US deports 10 Irish immigrants
The 10, eight female GAA players, their manager and a selector from Boston, touched down at Shannon two weeks after being pulled off a train, threatened with jail and then told they were being deported.
They had been living and working in Boston illegally for periods from four months to five years and cannot return to the US for 10 years after entering on a visa waiver programme allowing Irish citizens a 90 day to visit the country for 90 days but not to work.
The GAA team, Tír na nÓg, were travelling back to Boston from Chicago when border guards boarded the train.
They had been competing in the North American Championships for the first time.
The 10 come Longford, Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Meath and Waterford. They were taken off the train at Buffalo, near the Canadian border, on September 1.
Lorraine Maher, from Kilkenny, said: “It was 6.30 in the morning and I was asleep. Someone kicked me. I opened my eyes and it was an immigration officer who asked me what nationality I was and where’s my green card.
“I said I did not have one and he asked for my passport... he realised we were illegal. He phoned down to his friends and said we have a load of Irish here and they are all illegal.”
Sheila Gleason, of the Irish Immigration Centre in Boston, said the incident was a random search for illegal immigrants.
“The train did not cross the border but once it came near it agents came aboard,” said Ms Gleason. “They were held for a number of hours before being released and allowed to continue on to Boston.” They could have been held for up to six weeks.
Ms Gleason added: “Those living for a few years would have a fairly serious life out here.”
A benefit, including a raffle for All-Ireland tickets, was held in the Castle Bar in Brighton, Boston, last Saturday when hundreds of locals rallied to support their friends. Boston resident and GAA PRO Connie Kelly, who knew the girls, described the incident as very worrying for the Irish community.
“One of the lads was engaged and was very respected out here. He had trained a number of ladies’ teams over the past few years and he’ll be sorely missed,” he said. “From a GAA point of view, it’s also very worrying. Players won’t travel out now, especially if they have been here before.
The detention and deportation of such a large group of Irish is the starkest example yet of the increased enforcement by US authorities since September 11, 2001.
Another deportee, Linda McHugh, from Donegal, said: “I would definitely advise people to have a visa. I would never come back here illegally, it’s just not worth it.”
