A 54-year-old Irish woman who legally lived in the United States for over 40 years has been detained by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) based on a criminal conviction that appears to have been abolished.
Cliona Ward, originally from Dublin, has been living in the United States since she was 12 years old and has a green card.
Ward was taken into custody at ICE on March 19 after returning from a trip to Ireland to visit his father, who is suffering from dementia.
“She was handcuffed, tied her down and escorted her like a criminal who strengthened the airport. She was repentant, embarrassed and disgusted,” her sister, Aura Holladay, wrote on the page to raise funds for her legal defense.
After her first custody, Ward, who now lives in Santa Cruz, California, was reportedly asked to provide documents to prove that her two years ago conviction had been expunged.
He was detained for the second time
However, she was again taken into custody when Ward submitted her documents to an ICE staff at San Francisco airport on April 21.
“She followed all the instructions… for the supposed administrative meeting, which was actually an effort to detain her,” Holladay wrote.
According to court documents seen by the UK-based outlet, the Ward has a criminal record, including two felony and four misdemeanors for drug possession.
Holladay said her sister had a past criminal history and was an addict, but she was beautiful for 20 years.
“It’s hard to imagine that the 20-year-old case has been reportedly wiped out as justification to deport legal permanent residents who are productive members of our community,” said Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat representing Santa Cruz.
“As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and appreciate the need to remove the hardened offenders from our community, but the detention of now in my 50s and green cardholders is immeasurable due to a decades-old crime reportedly expunged from her personal records,” he added.
Green cards and citizenship rights “do not matter”
The Irish Foreign Ministry and the Trade Department told Euronows that they “aware of the incident and are providing consular support.”
“As with all consular cases, the department has not commented on the details of individual cases,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Taioceich Missial Martin told national broadcaster RTé, “It doesn’t matter if people have green cards and citizenship rights, so they will pursue this on a bilateral basis to ensure that those who are legally entitled to America are free from these kinds of challenges and difficulties.”
Since President Donald Trump was sworn in January, his administration has promoted a tough immigration policy.
Reports have emerged in recent months that Europeans are being detained on ice for unknown reasons.
