A 54-year old Irish woman who has lived legally in the United States for more than four decades has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the basis of a supposedly expunged 20-year old criminal conviction.
Cliona Ward, who is originally from Dublin, has lived in the US since she was 12 years old and holds a green card.
Ward was detained by ICE on 19 March after returning from a trip to Ireland to visit her father, who suffers from dementia.
“She was handcuffed, shackled her and escorted her though the airport – like a hardened criminal. She was mortified, shamed and demoralised,” her sister, Orla Holladay, wrote on the page to raise funds for her legal defence.
After her initial detention, Ward — who currently lives in Santa Cruz in the state of California — was reportedly asked to provide documentation to prove her conviction had been expunged.
Detained a second time
However, when Ward presented her documents to ICE officials at San Francisco airport on 21 April, she was detained again.
“She followed all the instructions…for a supposed administrative meeting, which was in reality and effort to take her into custody,” wrote Holladay.
According to court documents seen by Newsweek, Ward has a criminal record which includes two felonies for drug possession and four misdemeanours.
Holladay told Newsweek that while her sister has a past criminal record and had been an addict, she has been clean for two decades.
Democrat Congressman Jimmy Panetta who represents Santa Cruz said “it’s unimaginable that a reportedly expunged, 20-year-old incident could be used as justification for deporting a legal permanent resident who is a productive member of our community.”
“As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and appreciate the need to remove hardened criminals from our communities, but the detention of Cliona Ward — now in her 50s and a Green Card holder — for decades-old crimes that have reportedly been expunged from her personal record is unfathomable and unacceptable”, he added.
Citizenship rights
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Euronews that it was “aware of the case and providing consular assistance,” but added that “as with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.”
Meanwhile, Irish Taioseach Micheál Martin told national broadcaster RTÉ, “Where people have green cards and citizenship rights there shouldn’t be an issue so we will be pursuing this on a bilateral basis to make sure that those who are legitimately entitled to be in the US are free from any challenges or difficulties of this kind.”
Since US President Donald Trump was sworn in in January, his administration has promoted a hard-line immigration policy.
Reports of Europeans being detained by ICE for unknown reasons have emerged in recent months.