A DONEGAL woman who travelled to New York for the St Patrick's holiday was detained and deported when US authorities discovered she had worked there for four years without a valid visa.
Catherine Greene (28) from Rannafast said she was kept in a holding room for 12 hours and not allowed water or food before being escorted onto a flight to London on March 17th, her birthday.
She had spent four years in New York as an undocumented bar worker and was returning for a nine-day holiday to visit friends.
She said that, after consulting computer files, an immigration official at JFK airport asked her to confirm her previous dates of arrival and departure before placing her passport in a clear plastic bag.
"He said 'come with me' and sent me into this room and I had to sit there for a few hours - they didn't tell me nothing," Ms Greene told The Irish Times. "I was in an awful way. I was crying. They didn't actually handcuff me but they told me they weren't going to because of the state I was in. They said they usually would."
Ms Greene said she was then brought by van to another holding room, where she spent the night with three others who had been refused entry to the US, and was allowed to make one phone call.
She said: "It was horrible. It was cold, they were bringing people in and out, and we were sitting there, not allowed to move. I wasn't allowed have water or food or nothing. I went to my suitcase to get some chocolate and your man told me I wasn't allowed to go near my suitcase . . . Every time you got up you were told to sit down again.
"It was bad treatment. I didn't know what was going on - they weren't telling you anything . . . You're treated like a criminal. I wouldn't wish it on anybody." The following morning, Ms Greene was escorted by two security guards on to a British Airways flight to London.
"BA were very good to me. They said they'd never seen anything like it before", she said.
A spokeswoman for the US embassy said she could not discuss the case for privacy reasons, but pointed out that officials had the right to turn back anyone who was ineligible for a visa or admission.
Under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, available at www.uscis.gov, those ineligible for admission include "any alien who has been unlawfully present in the United States for one year or more, and who again seeks admission within 10 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal from the United States".
