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Irish businessman is released from immigration jail

Relives nightmare experience after two weeks in confinement

NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral Founder

Published Friday, December 16, 2011, 7:22 AM

Updated Friday, December 16, 2011, 11:06 AM

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Protesters stand outside The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Phoenix

Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

The nightmare of being plucked from your day to day life and jailed for an indefinite period, not knowing what will become of you, is one most of us will never experience.

A young Irishman who was picked up outside his home and held for deportation, who I wrote about on Thursday, experienced that dreadful fate.

I cannot name him for safety reasons but I am pleased to report that he has been released from jail, where he was being held on the immigration charges.

He has been given a date on which he is to leave the country, leaving his business and successful life behind him.

As we talked he told me that he was making every effort with his wife to avoid that fate.

The odds are probably stacked against him but he will make every effort. ”I love this country, it has been great to me and my wife, I really want my unborn child to live here and experience how amazing it is,“ he said.

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As I reported, the businessman, who employs 20 workers and whose wife is pregnant, was picked up and jailed, despite the fact that he had no police record was not wanted for any other crime and he had simply taken the same path to success in America as millions of Irish before.

However, as he explained to me in an exclusive interview, his world came crashing down when he was ready to drive to work one morning two weeks ago.

Armed agents from homeland security were outside his house. For a second he thought that they were regular police, coming to tell him they had traced the person who was using his stolen credit cards which he had reported.

But they were immigration agents who had traced him after someone turned him in as undocumented.

They had actually visited a previous address in Yonkers seeking him on two different occasions.

He still remembers the sense of fear and dread as the perfectly courteous officers placed him in a car and drove him to jail in Manhattan. “I did not know what would become of me, “ he told me .
Ahead was a two week nightmare as he sought to make sense of his predicament .

He had gone in minutes from being a successful businessman with a great future to a name and a number in the American prison system

After spending two days in Manhattan he was transferred to a jail in New Jersey as his wife and friends frantically tried to pin down his location.

The first night he will never forget as he shared a cell with a prisoner who snored so loudly that he was completely unable to sleep.

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ciaradexy | Dec 18, 2011, 02:55 PM EST

If hes illegal, DEPORT him!

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Niamhaine | Dec 18, 2011, 11:54 AM EST

One more thing in the 21st century,antoman, Ireland passed laws to no longer allow "anchor babies" to keep illegals on the Olde Sod. Welcome to the New World.

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Niamhaine | Dec 18, 2011, 11:44 AM EST

antoman, you are definitely living in the past. As one who has a residency card that is renewed yearly in Ireland, I can tell you first hand no blind eyes are turned anyone's way by the Gardai. I check everything out about "the rules" to retain my residency. As sad as this man's case may be, he needed to be up front and ask the questions when he entered the country... even to the point of hiring legal advice if need be.

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Ernesider | Dec 18, 2011, 02:29 AM EST

I think the whole immigration thing is hypocritical ... Just check this out ... The EB5 Visa and I know that many from China have no bother qualifying. EB-5 Visa Privileges For people wishing to live, work or retire anywhere in the USA that can afford to invest $500,000 for at least five years, the EB5 visa is an option worth considering. EB-5 visas are suitable for a variety of people that have the means to qualify for the minimum investment. Professionals, business people, foreign students, retirees and current non-immigrant visa holders are amongst people that choose the EB-5 Visa route. Simply put, the EB-5 visa gives you the flexibility to do what you want in the USA. EB-5 Visa Benefits A direct route to a Green Card No day-to-day business management Permanent residency in the United States for you, your partner and any children under 21 Live, work and retire anywhere in the United States Become a U.S Citizen after 5 years of being a green card holder No Quota Backlogs - There are many delays and backlogs for employment and family based green card categories but there is no backlog for the EB-5 Visa Investor category. No Sponsor Needed - Foreign investors use their own personal funds and do not require sponsorship from either an employer or a family member. Now there's America for you.

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jimmybb | Dec 17, 2011, 02:18 PM EST

full kudos to niall 4 documentin this on u site this is an entrepuneur that creates jobs an pays taxes yet hes being deported the immigration system has been broken since the 1960s yet we have criminals wasters losers living of the system the working class people get ruined again obama like bush s administration have apolicy of weeding out the people that are not wanted persay so why in americas hour of need is this man being singled out

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dragonladyleanne | Dec 17, 2011, 11:51 AM EST

The rules are horribly convoluted, and also expensive. My husband and I got married in the US, and all we had to do for that license was provide ID (my driver's license and his British passport) and sign as to the dates of our respective divorces. Ahhh, but INS wants PAPERS proving your divorce - and his was in Taiwan, where they typically do not provide such papers, nor was he in contact with his ex, to even know HOW to obtain them. No worries we thought, he only has to go home every 3 months, before his passport runs out. We asked many times, "how long does he have to STAY gone?", and got answers ranging from "I dunno" to one TSA agent saying "He can step off the ground and get on another flight back, if he can afford it", which he COULD. Several times he was questioned, but it all centered on how he could afford it - answer being he's an online worker, so he didn't have to be in the UK physically, he was just paid into his UK account and taxed there. Then one day, he was stopped at the airport, jailed overnight (which might have been longer if not for my phoning every office I could think of), after being taken away in hand to ankle cuffs, and sent back until we could "do the paperwork". When asked why he could no longer use his passport, they said "that's for tourists, and since you're married, he isn't a tourist"! So, if he'd lied about his previous marriage (so non-existant divorce papers would not be needed), or we'd just remained friends, he could have kept coming over at will. BUT once you apply for a green card, you have to return to your home country until they are processed, for which there is no timeline, nor even an enumeration of steps ahead of time. His took 18 months and about $2500, and I know others who have spent more and waited longer. And if he'd been poor and spoken Spanish? . . . We all know what happens next!

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leahforce | Dec 17, 2011, 11:00 AM EST

He knew the consequences when he chose to enter the country illegally. Ireland does exactly the same thing to illegals there too. Time for us to stop thinking that the Irish should be treated differently than anyone else when we break the law.

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Keynyata | Dec 17, 2011, 10:58 AM EST

What a lousy country - I will never understand why intelligent people would want to live in such a police State...it's almost as bad as Ireland. "The land of the free and not so free"..ah democracy... where we willingly vote for our dictators.

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borefield | Dec 17, 2011, 12:35 AM EST

If Mexican illegals are arrested ICE agents pay a price. Our kids can't say a prayer or read the bible on school property BUT Qurans are provided to those of the Muslim faith in Gitmo. Go ahead elect Obama again, he just loves the Irish and will do all he can to help them.

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sepulchre69 | Dec 16, 2011, 06:29 PM EST

I think belcarra and cokelley should get together and tell each other how wonderful they are and how lucky they are to have never been in that situation.A pair of sanctimonious bastards

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cillowen | Dec 16, 2011, 05:46 PM EST

the usa would not have been were it not for the Irish - read the history that speaks to those times of trial - in fighting the common despot.

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pmulvihill | Dec 16, 2011, 05:08 PM EST

Too bad our government isn't as efficient arresting Mexican illegals...especially those with criminal records.

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seagreen | Dec 16, 2011, 05:08 PM EST

I do understand that he was here illegally, and that is not arguable, and we do have rules. The situation, is that the rules have changed in the sense that they are not applied equally to everyone. Green cards are being acquired up in Jay Peak ,Vermont for an investment of $250,000 or more into the US, This is a fast track government program. Given the fact that this man has created jobs, not taken them, and has been an upright citizen (we could use a bunch of those) he should be given a chance to do procedures legally, and be able to keep the family together. I would say the same if this man were Indian,Asian,or African. I know rules are rules, but we just need more decent people in this country, and this need has to supercede some of the bizarre regs we have in place.

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antoman | Dec 16, 2011, 03:49 PM EST

Ye should be glad to have us. As Americans go us Irish are the best of the best. And there's not many of us. Turn a blind eye. We do it here in Ireland for you Americans.

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belcarra | Dec 16, 2011, 03:10 PM EST

I don't understand what the problem is, he is an illegal alien. that the bottom line.

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