Many Americans who are viewers of Fox News, or other right wing media outlets, believe that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, the federal agency that enforces federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration is only arresting and deporting dangerous and violent criminals, not the law abiding 11 million or so undocumented people whom the Trump administration has in its crosshairs.
The ICE website strengthens the impression that ICE is only arresting and deporting criminals. For example, it publicizes the arrest and deportation of two Irish citizens Oliver Boswell and Kathleen Boswell, who were wanted in the United Kingdom accused of 19 counts of money-laundering charges that defrauded numerous victims out of more than £3 million. ICE also trumpets its arrest and deportation of Irish national John O’Brien who allegedly defrauded Rhode Island property owners by inducing them to pay for home repairs that were not needed and often not completed.
Though ICE does arrest and deport criminals, the vast majority of Irish citizens it has arrested and deported have no criminal records. So far this year, ICE has arrested at least 56 Irish people. Of these, 43 Irish citizens have been deported or are due to be deported. Although President Trump claims that his administration is seeking out the “worst of the worst” and that his administration is trying to deport “dangerous criminals,” the majority of Irish citizens facing deportation have no criminal record. Of the 43, 10 had a criminal conviction, while six were facing some kind of criminal charge. The Irish people who have been detained are part of a marked change in focus by ICE officials since Trump came to power. ICE has shown limited discretion, heavy reliance on detention, and severe long-term penalties, even for such minor infractions as overstaying a visa. A report by the Sunday Independent claims that ICE have detained 35 Irish males and 21 Irish females, with most of those detentions occurring in Boston, New Jersey or New York. The detainees are mostly young people in their 20s who overstayed their three-month tourist visas. Irish officials claim there is little they can do to intervene in these situations.
The Irish government has reported a marked increase in Irish people requesting consular help. The Department of Foreign Affairs has reported that 43 Irish people have sought assistance for deportation-related issues here so far this year, a dramatic increase from previous years when there were 15 such cases last year, 18 in 2023, 11 in 2022 and just five in 2021. The almost 300 percent increase coincides with the advent of the Trump administration, which has launched a mass deportation campaign which aims to expel millions of undocumented people from the country every year including an estimated undocumented population of around 10,000 Irish citizens.
ICE is not only detaining Irish tourists who have overstayed their visas. It is also trying to deport some Irish green card holders such as Cork woman Cliona Ward who has been living legally in the United States for over 30 years. She was arrested earlier this year by immigration officials after returning home to California following a routine visit to Ireland. ICE officials cited Ward’s decades-old conviction for drugs possession and road-traffic offenses, charges which were later expunged. Ward was subsequently released after five days’ detention only to be rearrested by ICE officers and shipped to Washington State where she was shackled and chained before being sent to an ICE detention. Ward was finally released by court order, but her case has sent fear through Irish green card holders living across the United States.
On July 15, the Guardian newspaper reported about the ordeal of an Irishman detained by ICE for a 100 days. The 35-year-old Irish father of three and tech worker was so traumatized by his experience that he refused to give his name. He was visiting his American girlfriend in West Virginia when he sustained a severe injury to his calf. A doctor ordered him not to travel for eight to 12 weeks due to the risk of blood clots, which meant his having to stay slightly past Dec. 8, his visa deadline. He received documentation from his physician and contacted the Irish and U.S. embassies and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seek an extension, but it was too short notice, and he did not hear back. The detained Irishman claims that he did everything he possibly could to notify the American authorities of his circumstances. He said that he thought they would understand “because I had the correct paperwork. It was just a couple of days for medical reasons.” The Irishman was arrested on Dec. 11 when he had a chance encounter with a police officer. He was handed over to U.S. immigration authorities, who transported him 100 miles away to an ICE processing center in Folkston, Ga. He was presented with a formal removal order, which he agreed to sign. ICE, however, would not inform him how long he would remain in custody. David Cheng, an attorney who represented the Irishman, said he requested that ICE release him with an agreement that he’d return to Ireland as planned, but ICE refused. What ensued was a terrifying ordeal. After about two months in detention, officers placed him and nearly 50 other detainees in a holding cell, preparing to move them. He said, “I thought I was finally going home.” He called his family to tell them the news. Instead, the Irish tech worker and the others were shackled around their wrists, waists and legs and transported four hours to a federal correctional institution in Atlanta, a prison run by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BoP), he said. They were imprisoned in an area with dirty mattresses, cockroaches and mice. Evidently, the BoP was short on prison uniforms. The Irish father was forced to wear a pair of used, ripped underwear with brown stains and jumpsuits appeared with bloodstains and holes. He was also unable to speak to his children, because there was no way to make international calls. “I don’t know how I made it through,” he said.
Finally, in mid-March, the man was briefly transferred again to a different ICE facility. The authorities did not explain what had changed, but two armed federal officers then escorted him on a flight back to Ireland. Since he returned to Ireland, the father of three reports that he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened. “I’ll never forget it,” he said. “And it’ll be a long time before I’ll be able to even start to unpack everything I went through.” He said he has also dealt with long-term health problems that he attributes to malnutrition and inappropriate medications he was given while detained. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to inquiries by the Guardian about the story.
It is little wonder that many Irish tourists have canceled travel plans in the United States because of fear of being detained by ICE. Even many Irish green card holders here fear to return to Ireland because of fear of being detained by ICE.
These detentions are unnecessary, expensive and inhumane. They make a mockery of ICE’s claims to protect ordinary American citizens from dangerous criminals. Don’t expect any changes in ICE policy anytime soon. As long as Trump is president and he enjoys majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives ICE will continue to target visa violators and millions of other non-violent undocumented individuals. ICE’s actions tarnish the reputation of the United States and make it a place foreign visitors fear to visit.
