Family fear 'depressed and scared' Cliona Ward could be detained in US 'for months'

Cliona Ward's sister, Orla Holladay, said that the conditions in which Cliona is being held are extremely inhospitable

Cliona Ward has been held at a US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Tacoma, Washington state, since her arrest on April 21 at San Francisco Airport.

The family of a "depressed and scared" Irish woman being detained by the US immigration service fear their sister could be imprisoned “for months” as her legal team tries to secure her release.

Cliona Ward, the 54-year-old Dublin-born woman in question, has been held at a US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Tacoma, Washington state, since her arrest on April 21 at San Francisco Airport.

While Cliona has been living in America for more than four decades and has a valid green card, her arrest appears to have been predicated upon two criminal convictions she received in the 2000s for drug possession – convictions which she had believed had been expunged from her record.

Now, in an update to a Gofundme launched to aid Cliona in securing legal counsel in Seattle – roughly 1,500 miles from her hometown of Santa Cruz in California – her sister Orla Holladay said that “(I ) wish I had something positive to update but unfortunately I don't”.

“The harsh reality is that Cliona could be held prisoner for months while we plea for her release,” Ms Holladay said.

She said her sister “is depressed and scared” and that communication has proven difficult as “every time we talk the connection is so bad that we can barely hear each other”. “We eventually give up ending the call, defeated and frustrated and sad."

Ms Holladay said that it had come as a relief for Cliona when she had found out that legal representation had been secured for her, but said that the conditions in which she is being held are extremely inhospitable.

“The water is undrinkable, the food is not fit to eat, and her biggest consolation today was that her lawyer was able to bring her a pen,” she said. The Gofundme had raised $37,755 against a target of $40,000 at the time of writing.

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Ms Ward, the latest high-profile victim of the Trump administration’s hardline crackdown on alleged illegal immigration, had first encountered issues with the system when returning from Ireland after visiting her ill father in Cork on March 19, when she was detained for several days in Seattle.

She was subsequently released and told to present evidence that her previous criminal convictions – which date from 2007 and 2008 – had been expunged. It was when attending that appointment at San Francisco Airport on April 21 that she was taken into ICE custody. 

It’s believed that the issue which has brought her into the administration’s sights is that her convictions had been removed from her record at a state level, but not at a federal one.

An employee with a non-profit Christian charity, Ms Ward ordinarily serves as a full-time carer for her son, who is living with chronic Crohn’s Disease.