Message from Senator Schumer and Rep. Engel on the Deportation of Malachy McAllister.
Posted by Jim on June 11, 2020
STATEMENT OF UNITED STATES SENATOR AND DEMOCRATIC SENATE LEADER CHARLES E. SCHUMER ON THE DEPORTATION OF MALACHY McALLISTER
“President Trump’s deportation of Malachy McAllister is profoundly unjust and serves no rational public purpose or positive benefit. Mr. McAllister has been a valued member of the Irish American community ever since seeking asylum in the United States following an assassination attempt on him and his family during the Troubles. He is a father and grandfather to U.S. citizen children, a strong supporter of the Irish peace process and a productive businessperson. Mr. McAllister has unfairly faced deportation for years and the looming threat has been tragically realized today.
“For years, I and a bipartisan group of senators and House members, including Rep. Pete King and Sen. Bob Menendez and Cardinal Dolan, have fought against Malachy McAllister’s deportation, supporting both administrative and legislative remedies to keep Mr. McAllister in the U.S., where he belongs. We have implored President Trump – and presidents before him – and U.S. DHS secretaries to intervene in McAllister’s deportation case. In the past, rational and just decisions to defer action have been granted. But, appallingly, not this time. Additionally, for ICE to ignore the critical injuries Mr. McAllister suffered from being hit by a car while riding his bike and to move forward with this unfair, unjust deportation is a terrible mistake.
“The deportation of Malachy McAllister is grave injustice by President Trump. And, sadly, it is part of President Trump’s reflexively hardline and cruel immigration policy towards would be immigrants and asylum seekers that has caused untold pain and misery to countless people like Malachy McAllister, who, if allowed and granted some measure of mercy and common-sense administrative action, would only make America a better place.”
—U.S. Senator Charles Schumer
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For Immediate Release
June 10, 2020
ENGEL STATEMENT ON MALACHY MCALLISTER
Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement on Malachy McAllister being taken into custody for removal from the United States:
“I am outraged that the Trump Administration is kicking Malachy McAllister out of the United States. He first fled Belfast in 1998 during the Troubles and came to this country fleeing attempts on his life and the lives of his family. Now, despite strong bipartisan and bicameral advocacy from Congress about his model contributions to American society, Mr. McAllister is being forced from his home of more than two decades in the midst of a global pandemic and while he suffers from a broken collarbone.
“Malachy McAllister is a staunch supporter of the Good Friday Agreement and an invaluable member of the vibrant Irish-American community in New York and New Jersey. By following through with his removal, President Trump and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Wolf are forcing Malachy to leave behind his American-born children and grandchildren and breaking with decades of bipartisan agreement across Republican and Democratic Administrations. I consider myself lucky to call Malachy McAllister a friend and have been honored to fight for his continued residency in the United States. I will continue to fight to pass legislation to allow Malachy and his family to be reunited in the United States permanently.”