The detention of Irish woman Cliona Ward, who has been living legally in the United States for decades, has sparked fear among Irish people in America with some now afraid to visit Ireland.
Ms Ward (54) was recently detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after a trip to Ireland to visit her sick father. On her return to the US, she was questioned about drug possession convictions from more than a decade ago that had reportedly been “expunged” under state law, but not under federal legislation.
Claire*, an Irish woman who moved to the US in 2008 and became a United States citizen in 2020, said she believed Ms Ward’s arrest was “designed to invoke fear” – and it worked.
Claire was one of a number of people who contacted The Irish Times following a call-out looking to speak to Irish people in the US about the present situation. She works in education and lives in Indiana with her husband and two children.
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She said that – because of her profession and “opinions I’ve shared on social media” – she worries that an immigration official “might flag me for scrutiny and manufacture an inconsistency in my naturalisation or residency history, something that could be used to justify detaining me on re-entry”.
Claire said a number of recent cases, where people had been detained or deported from the US, had “demonstrated that due process doesn’t matter”. She and her family return to Ireland every summer. They are due to make their annual trip in July, but she is now reconsidering it.
“For the first time, I’m hesitating. Despite my citizenship, and no hint of any criminal activity, ever, I’m deeply uneasy about leaving the country, or, more specifically, of re-entering,” Claire said.
“My children do not need to witness their mother being kidnapped by so-called law enforcement.”
Claire said she believed “the point of all this” was to create “a climate of fear, where people are so concerned for their own safety that they will not speak out when they witness yet another horror perpetrated against the most vulnerable people in society”.
She will make a final decision on whether or not to come to Ireland closer to the time.
“I’m waiting to see if they detain a naturalised US citizen and challenge the legality of their citizenship,” she said.
Insight into what it might feel like to live in a country illegally, or to feel a sense that you’re not safe
Mary, another dual citizen, has been living in the US for more than three decades.**
“I am supposed to be in Ireland in June, but am considering not coming this year because I am afraid of being detained,” she said.
She said she wanted to remain anonymous because she lived “in a red state” – that is, one that votes Republican – and has “to censor what I say all the time”.
She typically visits Ireland two or three times a year, mainly to see her mother who is aged in her 80s.
Mary said she felt “very vulnerable at the moment” because she helped to run a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programme in a university.
In one of the first executive orders Donald Trump signed after being inaugurated as US president in January, he set out to dismantle DEI initiatives within the federal government and other sectors.
DEI programmes seek to promote the full participation of all people in organisations, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability.
Mary, who describes herself as “very liberal”, said her DEI programme had stopped receiving funding since Mr Trump’s executive order.**
“Our programme was cut within a fortnight of his inauguration.”
Mary said she had “no legal history that would be problematic”, just a few speeding tickets. However, because of her work, she is very worried that she could be targeted upon her return to the US.
Eilís, who lives in North Carolina, is also “definitely concerned about coming home”. She holds a green card and was about to apply for US citizenship, but is worried it’s not the right time.
She returns to Ireland almost every summer, but this year’s trip is up in the air.
“We are suspending our plans until we get a clearer picture of what’s going on at the borders. We are not very hopeful that we will get that, but think it warrants some time to see if there is clarity about who is – and for what reason people can be – deported or detained.”
Eilís said that “things have changed in the past few months – here‘s a pervasive sense of threat”.
She said “a big part of the decision” to relocate to the US was because it was typically easy to travel to and from Ireland. She was “really sad” about the prospect of not being able to visit Ireland this year, she said.
“I have a lot of family there, I have a sister who is ill, who I really try and see every year. Bringing my daughter home is a really strong part of her year, to see her cousins and friends,” she said.
Even though she was living in the US legally, Eilís said the present situation had given her “a very small insight into what it might feel like to live in a country illegally, or to feel a sense that you’re not safe”.
“As a white Irish woman, I’ve always felt safe and welcomed here. The Irish are loved here. I don’t think that’s changed.”
However, for the first time, she knows what it must feel like to cross a border while “not being sure whether I’ll be refused or detained”.
“To have that sense of, ‘Oh, I might not get across that border’, I’ve never had that feeling before. I’m not saying I understand what it’s like being a person of colour crossing a border into the States – I cannot understand that – but I’m certainly getting an insight.”
* Names have been changed for privacy reasons
** Change made to protect identity of interviewee
