McAllister Family Justice Campaign

 

Dramatic New Support from New York’s Senator CHARLES E. SCHUMER

October 11, 2007

new York's Senator Charles e. sCHUMER PUSHES immigration CHIEF TO GRANT Deferred action FOR MALACHY MCALLISTER AND FAMILY, and not to act on possible deportation

In Call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Myers, Schumer Urges ICE Not to Deport Malachy McAllister and Family on Humanitarian, Safety Grounds

Ongoing Loyalist Paramilitary Operations in Northern Ireland Pose Continued Safety Threat Following Assassination Attempt on Family in 1988

Family Has Exhausted All Appeals, Face Imminent Deportation to Northern Ireland without Support from ICE, DHS

In a letter sent October 11, 2007, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer urged Julie L. Myers, the assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to use her prosecutorial discretion to stay deportation proceedings and grant “deferred action” status to Malachy McAllister and his children on humanitarian grounds. The letter follows a personal call from Schumer to Myers yesterday pressing the family’s case. The McAllisters arrived in the country via Canada and sought asylum, after fleeing Belfast following an assassination attempt in 1988. Having exhausted legal appeals, the family faces immediate deportation to Northern Ireland unless ICE and DHS stay proceedings.

 “I talked yesterday with Secretary Julie Myers and made a strong case to grant the McAllisters deferred action status. It is the humane thing to do and the right thing to do and I will continue to press the issue with DHS,” said Senator Schumer. “Malachy has made a life here, is a valued member of the community and it makes no sense to send him back into harms way,” added Schumer.

 The McAllister family has been in the United States since 1996, following their escape to Toronto from Belfast in 1988 after Loyalist gunmen burst into their home and fired 26 shots while three of the four children were inside with their grandmother.  The assassination attempt followed Malachy’s release from prison in 1985, during the height of the civil war known as “the Troubles,” where he served three years for his involvement in a conflict with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

 Despite the Good Friday Peace Accord, Malachy and his children face deportation after an immigration court denied his appeal against deportation, and the Board of Immigration Appeals reversed a previous court decision to grant asylum to McAllister’s wife and the couple’s four children. The children had been slated to receive asylum under their mother Bernadette’s successful application, but lost the chance when Bernadette died suddenly from cancer in 2004.

 Malachy and his family have been model citizens. He founded a successful business, and they involved themselves in the community on many matters, including immigration reform and community work. Two of his children are still enrolled in secondary school and his other sons are married to American citizens.

However, if the McAllisters are deported to Northern Ireland, the family faces a continued threat from ongoing loyalist paramilitary operations. While the Peace Process has worked and there is a functioning government in the North, unlike the IRA, the various armed loyalist militias that attempted to kill Malachy and his family are still armed, have not renounced violence, and, according to international monitors, continue to direct sophisticated criminal activities in Northern Ireland. In April, the Northern Ireland's Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) found that loyalist paramilitary groups, the UDA and UVF, were still involved in crime and violence, and has questioned whether the paramilitary leaders are really committed to moving away from violence and crime and fully decommissioning their weapons. It said the UDA would soon be viewed simply as a criminal group unless it acted quickly to change.

After the assassination attempt, the McAllisters were later notified by the Royal Ulster Constabulary that Malachy's security information was found in a loyalist 'safe house' along with the guns used in the shooting. Other members of the McAllister's family had also been targeted.  Theresa Clinton, a relative, was murdered when loyalists fired shots into her living room.  Bernadette's family members had been warned by the RUC to take security precautions because, like Malachy, their personal details were in the hands of paramilitary organizations.  The threats have followed the McAllisters even here to the United States.  In 2005, a loyalist terror group called the Red Hand Defenders emailed a threat against the McAllisters to the Irish Echo newspaper stating that, "We won't miss next time."

 Schumer’s call and letter to ICE follows an earlier letter he sent in to DHS requesting that the McAllisters not be deported. Schumer’s request is in keeping with previous decisions under the Clinton Administration, when similar cases involving numerous Irish political prisoners facing deportation to Northern Ireland were resolved by suspending the deportation proceedings and allowing them to remain in America with their families. Since the family has exhausted all legal appeals, the case is now entirely in the hands of DHS.

 Judge Marion Trump Barry wrote in her decision on this case: "I would implore the Attorney General to exercise his discretion and permit this deserving family to stay. No one now suggests that Malachy poses a threat to anyone, much less to our national security,”

 Many Irish American organizations, unions and groups and elected officials have supported the McAllister’s cause including the AOH, United Irish Counties, the Irish American Unity Conference, and the PBA.