VTMBH Article: Body
Ten Irish nationals were deported this week after being caught under a little known Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) law in Buffalo, New York. The group of camogie players and supporters were traveling back from Chicago following the North American Gaelic Athletic American finals two weeks ago, when they were apprehended by Border Police officers.
The 10 Irish people, two men and eight women, were stopped in the Buffalo train station by a group of INS agents who boarded their train near the Canadian border. Seated in a group on the train, the young people were asked to produce travel documents as part of a routine search of passengers.
None of them were legally entitled to be in the United States. They all entered on the visa waiver program, which allows Irish nationals to vacation here for 90 days, but all stayed longer than that time. Some had overstayed by several weeks or months, but one of the men had been living and working construction in Boston for a number of years.
In the wrong place at the wrong time, the 10, whose names were not released by the INS, suffered the consequences of a little-known law. Under U.S. immigration law, INS officials are allowed to question a person within 100 miles of any U.S. border about their immigration status. This rule is regularly enforced on the Mexican border, and since September 11 th, the INS has been doing the same on the Canadian border.
For years the INS has been pulling in that train because it passes the border, said James OMalley, a Manhattan immigration attorney. They will board it and will ask everyone on the train about their immigration status because they are allowed to. OMalley said the group would not have needed to cause a problem or disturbance to be apprehended.
They were extremely cooperative and caused no harm, but they broke the rule, Border Patrol Deputy Chief Ed Duda told the Irish Voice. We dont respond to disorderly calls, but there are rules in place for people not visiting this country and now is not the time to be breaking them.
The 10 were taken off the train and brought to a detention center where they were questioned further about their status. They were then told that they would be deported and given phone privileges to call Ireland.
One girl called her mother in Ireland. Her mother said, I told you not to stay, I told you, you would get caught, recalled one of the agents.
We used our own discretion and allowed them to return to Boston to collect their things. We confiscated their travel documents so that we could delay them traveling to Ireland and allowed them to transfer the case to Boston. We dont usually let people go like that, but we felt sorry for them, said another agent.
Their cases were heard at the Boston INS field office and the 10 were deported Monday. They were each banned from reentering the United States for 10 years, according to the INS.
In an overall tightening of the system, the INS reported 80 arrests on the same train since September 11th. Our primary concern is the border. We do not always catch them on the border; in fact, we often pull them out of the Niagara River that runs along the border having drowned trying to enter, said Duda.
So, if we know they are running, we use our authority to board transportation in the 100 mile radius of the border for search purposes. If we have probable cause, we can board any train in the country, but its concentrated here on the northern border, added Duda.
Since September 11th, we have doubled our workforce and really stepped things up. The Irish are like anyone elseif they break the rule and we catch them, we will deport them. We didnt specifically target them, Duda explained.
While this was an isolated incident, the INS says their agents are specifically trained to spot foreign nationals, and if they have reasons to be suspicious, they can ask probing questions. Of course, there has to be a lot of evidence, but in this case the presence of the young Irish people on the train was enough for them to get caught, Duda said.
The Boston Irish community, in shock over the deportations, held a fundraiser for the 10 in Bostons Castle Bar last week. A wave of rumors swept the community about imminent INS raids, but it turns out that the 10 who were caught were just unfortunate.
Immigration specialists say there is no specific targeting of the Irish since September 11th and that annual figures for deportations of Irish nationals has not risen in the past few years.
The 10 Irish people, two men and eight women, were stopped in the Buffalo train station by a group of INS agents who boarded their train near the Canadian border. Seated in a group on the train, the young people were asked to produce travel documents as part of a routine search of passengers.
None of them were legally entitled to be in the United States. They all entered on the visa waiver program, which allows Irish nationals to vacation here for 90 days, but all stayed longer than that time. Some had overstayed by several weeks or months, but one of the men had been living and working construction in Boston for a number of years.
In the wrong place at the wrong time, the 10, whose names were not released by the INS, suffered the consequences of a little-known law. Under U.S. immigration law, INS officials are allowed to question a person within 100 miles of any U.S. border about their immigration status. This rule is regularly enforced on the Mexican border, and since September 11 th, the INS has been doing the same on the Canadian border.
For years the INS has been pulling in that train because it passes the border, said James OMalley, a Manhattan immigration attorney. They will board it and will ask everyone on the train about their immigration status because they are allowed to. OMalley said the group would not have needed to cause a problem or disturbance to be apprehended.
They were extremely cooperative and caused no harm, but they broke the rule, Border Patrol Deputy Chief Ed Duda told the Irish Voice. We dont respond to disorderly calls, but there are rules in place for people not visiting this country and now is not the time to be breaking them.
The 10 were taken off the train and brought to a detention center where they were questioned further about their status. They were then told that they would be deported and given phone privileges to call Ireland.
One girl called her mother in Ireland. Her mother said, I told you not to stay, I told you, you would get caught, recalled one of the agents.
We used our own discretion and allowed them to return to Boston to collect their things. We confiscated their travel documents so that we could delay them traveling to Ireland and allowed them to transfer the case to Boston. We dont usually let people go like that, but we felt sorry for them, said another agent.
Their cases were heard at the Boston INS field office and the 10 were deported Monday. They were each banned from reentering the United States for 10 years, according to the INS.
In an overall tightening of the system, the INS reported 80 arrests on the same train since September 11th. Our primary concern is the border. We do not always catch them on the border; in fact, we often pull them out of the Niagara River that runs along the border having drowned trying to enter, said Duda.
So, if we know they are running, we use our authority to board transportation in the 100 mile radius of the border for search purposes. If we have probable cause, we can board any train in the country, but its concentrated here on the northern border, added Duda.
Since September 11th, we have doubled our workforce and really stepped things up. The Irish are like anyone elseif they break the rule and we catch them, we will deport them. We didnt specifically target them, Duda explained.
While this was an isolated incident, the INS says their agents are specifically trained to spot foreign nationals, and if they have reasons to be suspicious, they can ask probing questions. Of course, there has to be a lot of evidence, but in this case the presence of the young Irish people on the train was enough for them to get caught, Duda said.
The Boston Irish community, in shock over the deportations, held a fundraiser for the 10 in Bostons Castle Bar last week. A wave of rumors swept the community about imminent INS raids, but it turns out that the 10 who were caught were just unfortunate.
Immigration specialists say there is no specific targeting of the Irish since September 11th and that annual figures for deportations of Irish nationals has not risen in the past few years.