Irishman deported from US due to membership of crime gang

Patrick Connors, 31, is allegedly wanted for passport fraud, theft, and multiple motor vehicle offences here in Ireland, according to the Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston

aw enforcement officials in Ireland and the United States said Mr Connors was 'a member of a gang called the Travelling Conmen Fraud Group'.

An Irishman described by officials as a member of a transnational criminal gang has been deported from the United States.

Patrick Connors, 31, is allegedly wanted for passport fraud, theft and multiple motor vehicle offences here in Ireland, according to the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston.

In a statement released by the ERO on its website, it said Mr Connors, who had been admitted into the United States in August 2021, “violated the terms of his admission”.

That violation included a failure to depart the US by November 2021, which resulted in him being arrested in Billerica close to Boston and deported on July 13.

Law enforcement officials in Ireland and the United States said Mr Connors was “a member of a gang called the Travelling Conmen Fraud Group”.

ERO Boston field office director Todd Lyons said in a statement that “fugitives from justice cannot avoid accountability for criminal behaviour in their native country by hiding in our communities.

ERO Boston takes our duty to enforce immigration law seriously. We will apprehend those wanted by foreign authorities for serious crimes, including fraud, who are unlawfully present in the US, and we will remove them to face justice for their crimes in their home country.

According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, non-citizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) within the department of justice.

EOIR is a separate entity from the US Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Decisions in these courts are made by immigration judges and are based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a non-citizen is "removable or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal" according to their website.

Once a non-citizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.

In 2022, ERO said it arrested 46,396 non-citizens with criminal histories who had 198,498 associated charges and convictions.

They included 21,531 assault offenses, 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses, 5,554 weapons offences,501 homicide-related offenses, and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.

The Irish Examiner has asked the gardaí for a statement.