A MAN who escaped from the Maze Prison in Belfast in 1983 is being detained by Customs and Border Patrol in Texas despite Sinn Fein insistence that he is legal in the U.S.Paul Brennan, otherwise know as Pol, and his wife Joanna Volz were stopped by CBP near Brownsville, Texas on Monday, January 28 en route to visit a friend. Brennan, who lives in San Francisco with his wife and stepdaughter, was arrested after producing out-of-date immigration documents at a Sarita immigration checkpoint near Brownsville. Agents then conducted a background check using an international fingerprint system linked to Interpol and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which immediately identified Brennan as an escapee from prison. A spokesperson for Sinn Fein said last week that Brennan has a legal right to live in the U.S. "Pol (Paul Brennan) is not undocumented. After his extradition case was dropped in October 2000, he was granted the right to remain in the U.S. where he has been living and working ever since. Pol and his family remain hopeful that this anomaly will be successfully resolved in the near future," said the spokesperson.CBP spokesperson Ramon Riviera told the Irish Voice on Tuesday that Brennan was still in custody and currently "going through deportation proceedings."Brennan, who was serving a 23-year prison sentence for the possession of an explosive and a firearm at the Maze, was one of 38 Republican prisoners who escaped on September 25, 1983. Shortly after his escape, Brennan fled to the U.S. where he has lived ever since. Brennan, along with three other fugitives, Kevin Artt, James Smyth and Terrence Kirby, was arrested between 1992 and 1994 in the U.S. and subsequently fought lengthy battles to prevent their extraditions. Smyth lost and was extradited back to Northern Ireland in 1996. He returned to prison, and was released in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement. In 2000, the British government withdrew their extradition requests for Brennan, Art and Kirby. Although officially the three men, including Brennan, remain fugitives, the British Prison Service said they were not being "actively pursued."The Maze, a maximum-security prison at the time, was home to hundreds of prisoners who were involved in three decades of the struggles in Northern Ireland. On the day of the escape inmates used smuggled guns and knives to overpower prison guards. Officer James Ferris, who was stabbed during the escape, died of a heart attack, and another officer was injured. Within hours of the escape ten prisoners were recaptured but the remainder fled to various parts of the country and the world. In September 2000, the Maze prison closed its doors as a result of the Good Friday Agreement's early release scheme.