The US Department of Homeland Security has named five Irish people among ‘the worst of the worst criminal aliens’ as part of efforts to justify its violent immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
It comes in the wake of the White House defending the killing in Minneapolis of two innocent US citizens by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Now Kristi Noem, US Secretary of Homeland Security has doubled down by publishing a database of 25,000 ‘illegal aliens’, along with their nationalities and alleged crimes.
It says the people featured have been to ‘mass deportations’. In addition to the online database, the official White House X (formerly Twitter) account published snippets from the database, alongside the caption: ‘Friendly reminder: these are the SICK criminals Minnesota rioters are defending.’
Those listed as being from Ireland include an 82-year-old woman who is alleged to be implicated in a homicide case.
It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin said yesterday he had accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump for the traditional St Patrick’s Day ceremony at the White House.
A post on the US Department’s website said: ‘The US Department of Homeland Security is highlighting the worst of worst criminal aliens arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
March 12, 2025: Ireland's Taoiseach Micheal Martin presents US President Donald Trump a bowl of shamrock in the East Room of the White House. (@MerrionStreet, X)
‘Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, the hardworking men and women of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and ICE are fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations – starting with the worst of the worst – including the illegal aliens you see here.’
A review of the website shows that American authorities believe they have deported five Irish citizens, including the Missouri-based woman.
The DHS website states she has been convicted of killing a family member with a gun.
Local media reports confirm she was ‘arrested and booked’ in September last year and taken into custody by ICE, but adds: ‘an arrest does not mean (she) has been convicted of a crime’.
They also published the details of a Donegal man Ryan McEleney Lynch who, they say, was convicted of aggravated assault. He was arrested in Massachusetts.
A review of online records show that in 2023 Mr McEleney Lynch was sentenced to jail for five years for a ‘one-punch assault’ that left father of three, Ciaran Moore, with brain damage in Boston in 2021.
The Donegal Daily, citing a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, said an investigation showed that Mr Moore had been out with his wife and friends at the Bunker pub at the Old Dorchester Post in Boston.
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As the victim began to walk toward the bathroom, McEleney Lynch punched him once in the face, knocking him unconscious and ultimately causing a life-threatening brain injury.
The Homeland Security website also says it has arrested Matthew McDonagh who was convicted of assault and wire fraud in a case widely reported at the time by Irish and American media.
Mr McDonagh and his brother were convicted and sentenced to 18 months for conspiracy to commit wire fraud after defrauding an 80-year-old man out of $435,000, which included $200,000 wired to an unidentified third party to buy supplies that never materialised.
Homeland Security Investigations identified both defendants as part of the Travelling Conmen Fraud Group.
Members of this group engage in fraud through paving, roofing, and home improvement scams, defrauding primarily elderly victims by taking money for services which were never provided, or completing the work to a substandard level.
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A third man was also named in the files, with ICE claiming he was convicted of aggravated assault of a police officer and of resisting a police officer. There does not appear to be any contemporaneous media reports of this incident in New Jersey corroborating the claims by ICE.
A fifth man appears to be a Romanian national, incorrectly marked as an Irish national.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the nature of the crimes or whether they had arrived back home to Ireland.
He said: ‘The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not comment on individual consular cases.’
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John Foley, a lawyer representing Irish immigrants in the US and who is based in Boston, said that he was ‘not familiar’ with any of the cases.
He added: ‘Unfortunately, I no longer trust any information coming out from DHS. They talk about the worst of the worst being deported, but 90% of them have zero criminal convictions.
‘In my experience, ICE is only looking for numbers. I would not trust it.’
Extra.ie reported yesterday that Irish citizens without legal status in the United States are voluntarily returning home to avoid being detained and deported by American immigration officials.
Junior Foreign Minister Neale Richmond told the Dáil yesterday that there has also been a 330% increase in the number of Irish people requesting consular assistance when facing deportation from the US.
He said 65 people requested assistance from Irish diplomats – but clarified that citizens in need must make a request for assistance first. He said his department ‘may not be aware’ of all cases in need of consular help as a result.
Separate figures published by ICE in September detailed that 99 Irish citizens had been deported from the US since January 2025, and many more are believed to have deported in the final quarter of last year.
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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