Fourteen members of the House of Representatives have appealed to the US Attorney General, Ms Janet Reno, to suspend deportation proceedings against a Belfast man.
Mr Malachy McAllister, who has been fighting to stay in the US for three years, had left his home in the Lower Ormeau for the US with his family following a sectarian attack on their home.
In their letter to Ms Reno, Mr Bob Menendez (Dem, New Jersey) and Mr Joe Crowley (Dem, New York) urge the attorney general "in the spirit of the Good Friday agreement", to reconsider Mr McAllister's case and to grant him political asylum, particularly in the light of what they say are the likelihood of physical threats if he returns to Northern Ireland.
