Family fighting against deportation

McAllisters fear for their lives if sent back to Ireland
By Don E. Smith, Jr.  The Shopper News
August 17, 2005  Front page and page 7

Wallington - Malachy McAllister and his family, immigrants from Northern
Ireland who settled in Wallington, are fighting deportation back to their
mother country out of fear for their lives.

A Web site supporting the McAllisters describes the family as "political
refugees from Northern Ireland who have been residents in the United States
for a number of years." McAllister was convicted in Northern Ireland in 1983
of serving as a lookout for the Irish National Liberation Army, a
paramilitary group separate from the Irish Republican Army (IRA), during an
attempted ambush on a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer. He was sentenced to
prison and released in 1985. In 1988, his family escaped an attack on their
living room by British loyalists.

In a speech to the Irish American Republican Party on Aug. 31, 2004
McAllister described the events that forced his family to flee. "My
mother-in-law and three of my children were at home that night when four
gunmen, dressed in Halloween masks, arrived shortly before 8 p.m. on a
Sunday evening," he said. "Two proceeded up the walkway to the front door
and window of our house. Then all hell broke loose."

"One of the gunmen shot through the glass panel of the front door into the
hallway. The other loyalist gunmen fired 26 shots from an AK-47 into the
living room and when my son, Gary, was spotted at the bedroom window, the
gunmen directed their weapons up into my children's bedrooms, narrowly
missing all three. My mother-in-law managed to escape to the rear of the
house and huddled down in a corner. When the shooting finally stopped, my
children were found huddled together with a blanket over them for
protection."

According to McAllister, his police file and a gun used in the attack were
later found at a British loyalist safehouse, forcing him to flee to
relatives living in Canada.

Eileen Kean, president of the Mid-Jersey Chapter of the Irish American Unity
Conference, who has known McAllister since 2000, said Canada denied him a
visa, forcing him to come to the United States, where he settled in
Wallington in 1996 as a bricklayer with his wife, Bernadette, and four
children. Bernadette died in 2004 from cancer at the age of 46. After 9/11
the Department of Homeland Security started revoking the visas of immigrants
with questionable backgrounds. McAllister and his family fell into that
category.

"I regret that my participation back in the '80s still affects my family 25
years later, but there are people who have committed crimes far more worse
than mine," said McAllister.

McAllister added he was horrified by the events of 9/11 and said, "I was
very much appalled and if I could, I would put on an Army uniform and find
the people who brought about this terror to this country. And I know my
children would do that as well."

Congressman Steve Rothman, of the ninth district, and Peter King of New
York, both wrote letters asking Michael Chertoff, secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security, to allow McAllister and his family to stay
in the United States.

"Rothman feels the McAllister family are wonderful and valuable members here
and their safety is threatened. Even after many years the danger could still
be present," said Shelly O'Neill Stoneman, an aide to Rothman.

"The McAllister family's case has garnered widespread support of many in the
Irish American community, including groups such as the Irish American Unity
Conference and the Ancient Order of Hibernians, as well as the support of
many Congressional leaders," said Deanna Turner, national coordinator for
the Irish American Unity Conference.

"Malachy and his family are still in grave danger of deportation. We urge
the Bureau of Homeland Security and the office of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to allow this upstanding Irish family to stay in America."

According to Turner, a group that goes by the name Red Hand Defenders or the
Red Hand Commandos, recently claimed in an e-mail sent to the "Irish Echo"
newspaper that, "We won't miss next time," referring to the McAllisters.

The McAllisters are awaiting to hear from the Third Court of Appeals in
Newark or the Department of Homeland Security whether the family will be
allowed to stay.