McAllisters Catch a Break.

By Tom Deignan.

BELFAST native Malachy McAllister has been given a reprieve from federal immigration officials, following a day of whirlwind diplomacy from New Jersey to Washington, D.C.

“I’m ecstatic,” McAllister said on Tuesday, seated in the offices of the Irish Voice.

McAllister faced immediate detention and deportation after a controversial court decision late last month. Federal agents stormed his home at 5 a.m. on November 19, but McAllister was not home.

“They missed me by 15 minutes,” McAllister said.

This past Monday, however, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) in Newark decided McAllister, as well as his oldest son, could stay in the U.S. until an appeals court decides whether or not political asylum will be granted to the family. That decision is not expected until early next year, sources familiar with the case told the Irish Voice.

But the McAllister family is still facing several daunting obstacles in their efforts to stay in the U.S.

As the Irish Voice went to press, a deportation order was still in effect for Malachy’s wife Bernadette, as well as their three younger children. 

They were ordered to leave the U.S. within 30 days of a deportation order issued last month. As of December 3, the foursome could legally stay in the U.S. for just two more weeks. 

However, sources close to the McAllisters tell the Irish Voice they are “cautiously optimistic” that a deal will be struck allowing the courts to decide on the status of all six McAllister family members some time early next year.

Still, Malachy’s wife Bernadette remains shaken. Asked how the family might spend Christmas following these latest developments, Bernadette told the Irish Voice, “Who knows if we’ll even be here (in the U.S.)?”

For the time being, however, McAllister family supporters were celebrating their more immediate victory — the fact that Malachy McAllister and his oldest son can stay in the U.S. until the Third Court of Appeals makes a decision on their asylum status.

“The Department of Homeland Security finally permitted common sense and decency to prevail and allowed Malachy McAllister to return to his family,” the McAllisters’ lawyer Eamonn Dornan said.

For now, McAllister can resume a normal working life but must report to the BICE office in Newark on Friday of each week. 

McAllister said he was grateful for the support he received. “Without the support of Irish America, our representatives and senators, and without the media shining a light on this case, I have no doubt but that I would have been arrested, shackled and shipped out to face my persecutors (in Belfast),” said McAllister, who singled out New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman for helping to overturn the immediate deportation order. (See “Sidewalks” on page 10 for more details about this aspect of the McAllister case.)

The McAllisters told the Irish Voice on Tuesday they were looking forward to at least a few days of normalcy at the New Jersey home where they have lived for several years. The family first went to Canada in the late 1980s after fleeing war-torn Belfast, where they faced death threats. Two dozen bullets were once fired at their home.

Malachy McAllister was a well-known Nationalist activist and Irish National Liberation Army member in Belfast. He served time in prison, accused of participating in a plot which left one police officer dead.

For years the family believed they had secured asylum in the U.S., arguing they would face further attacks if they were to return to Belfast.

Late last month, however, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the family’s asylum status. The McAllisters faced deportation within 30 days of the decision. Authorities sought to detain Malachy immediately. Because of prior convictions in Northern Ireland, Malachy was considered a priority case by federal authorities. His oldest son was also sought immediately because he has had several run-ins with the law here in the U.S.

In the early morning of November 19, agents under the supervision of DHS burst into the McAllisters’ home. They demanded to see Malachy. 

“If I was home I’d be back in Belfast now,” McAllister said.

That is what more or less unfolded this summer in the notorious John Eddie McNicholl episode. The Philadelphia father and laborer was taken away following an early morning raid and was deported back to Ireland.

McAllister, however, was in Washington D.C. with supporters such as national AOH officers and New Jersey Congressman Donald Payne. In the days that followed, he was more or less out of the public eye. Federal agents, according to Bernadette McAllister, were parked in front of the McAllister home all that time.

Still, even McAllister’s lawyer did not know if Malachy would appear Monday, December 1 at the Newark BICE office, as he was told do to by federal authorities. In the end, it was smart that he did.

McAllister’s appearance set in motion a chain of events and phone calls which would ultimately win him and his son their much-needed reprieve. Congressman Rothman, who represents the McAllisters’ home town of Wallington, placed a phone call to BICE director Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson, himself a former Congressman, took Rothman’s word that neither Malachy nor his son were a direct threat to U.S. national security. Thus, they were allowed to stay with their family, pending the appeals court decision. 

McAllister admitted recent events have left him somewhat embittered. He also had harsh words for post-September 11 reforms on issues of immigration and homeland security. He said Irish Americans should remain vigilant in their criticism of U.S. policy on this issue.

“We still have a lot of work to do until this government recognizes that my family, and other Irish nationals in similar situations, present no danger to the safety and security of the United States. We must keep moving toward that goal, but today has been a significant victory for democracy and justice,” McAllister said.