A US congressman intends to raise questions about the arrest and impending deportation of a Donegal man who had been living illegally in Boston directly with US immigration officials.
Brendan Boyle, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, said he planned to write to US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to obtain more information about why electrician John Cunningham, a prominent figure in the Irish community in Boston, was detained and is facing deportation.
Mr Cunningham, a former chairman of the local Boston GAA club, was arrested by ICE officers at his home in the Brighton area of Boston last Friday. He will be deported from the US for “immigration violations” after overstaying his 90-day visa-waiver term when he entered the US 15 years ago.
The Donegal man is the subject of an outstanding felony warrant from a Boston court over an alleged theft of $1,300 (€1,448) from one of his customers in 2014. The customer claimed he did not carry out electrical work as promised.
Mr Boyle said that Mr Cunningham's case came to his attention on social media and he took an interest in the case because the electrician was from Glencolmcille, the same village that his father emigrated from.
Chilling effect
"There has been almost a 40 per cent increase in ICE arrests since Donald Trump took office. This has had a chilling effect on many who are simply trying to work hard and raise a family," he said.
“The Trump administration’s immigration policy is cold and callous. It does nothing to make America greater,” he added, in a thinly veiled reference to Mr Trump’s election slogan, “Make America Great Again”.
The US congressman said he intended to contact Democrat colleagues who represent Massachusetts to see if they wished to join in his efforts to help prevent Mr Cunningham's deportation.
Mr Boyle said he has been disturbed by other cases of undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE officials who had not committed any criminal offences other than being in the country illegally. He referred to the case of an undocumented Central American woman who was arrested by ICE agents while picking up her two US-born children from school. This arrest raised questions around the enforcement policy being followed by the immigration agency under the direction of the US president, he said.
The Trump administration has expanded the authority of immigration officers, permitting them to determine the level of criminality that would warrant an illegal immigrant being picked up.
Previously, under president Barack Obama, ICE agents prioritised the deportation of undocumented immigrants who were a threat to public safety or national security or who had committed serious crimes.
"ICE, specifically, and the administration have really not communicated to Congress so it is more trying to piece together from anecdotal information just what is going and it is clear that there has been a dramatic up-tick in the number of ICE deportations," said Mr Boyle.
Mr Cunningham’s detention has raised fears of further arrests of undocumented Irish in the US, though the Department of Foreign Affairs has said it has not seen an increase in arrests under Mr Trump.
