Malachy McCallister and Good Friday Agreement Negotiator Senator George Mitchell
The Hibernians are saddened and angered that once again their Brother Malachy McAllister and members of his family are being threatened with deportation by agencies of the United States government. Since entering the United States legally over twenty years ago, Mr. McAllister has been an exemplary member of the American community, creating two successful, job-producing businesses.
However, despite having done nothing but positively contribute to his adopted country, US immigration officials are determined to deport this grandfather of 5 American grandchildren despite bipartisan appeals by some of the most senior members of Congress and the Senate. It is a testament to the character of Mr. McAllister that in these politically divisive times members of both parties have come together in an attempt to stay his deportation. It is unfathomable that Immigration and Customs can choose to disregard entreaties made by the Chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Lindsey Graham and the Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez.
Mr. McAllister’s past is an open book which he has never tried to conceal. As a young man during the darkest days of Northern Ireland’s “Troubles,” Mr. McAllister was imprisoned for engaging in paramilitary activity. He discharged his sentence, being released early for good behavior. Shortly after his release, the McAllister home was targeted by Loyalist Paramilitaries who sprayed his home with sub-machine gun at a time when only McAllister children and his mother-in-law were present. Fearing for his children’s lives, Mr. McAllister sought safety in the protections and justice America has traditionally offered the oppressed. Upon entering the United States legally, Mr. McAllister applied for asylum and has subsequently complied with all requirements of U.S. law.
Despite the clear evidence of the danger the McAllister family were facing in Northern Ireland Mr. McAllister’s petition for asylum was denied. Lawyers for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service argued that the conflict in Northern Ireland, proportionally one of the deadliest in the history of the world, did not rise to the level of civil war and therefore Mr. McAllister’s acts were those of a “terrorist,” not of a soldier and not eligible for asylum. Judge Dogin agreed with the INS, while paradoxically simultaneously noting the McAllister family had endured a pattern of persecution which the Northern Ireland and British governments ”were unable or unwilling to control.”
During the intervening 18 years since the denial of Mr. McAllister’s request for amnesty, the true nature of the conflict known as “The Troubles” has been made apparent to the world; while portraying themselves as the forces of law and order, the Crown’s security forces were instead active and partisan belligerents in the conflict of Northern Ireland. The Hibernian’s cannot help but wonder if Judge Dogin would deny Mr. McAllister’s asylum request if he had the findings of the 2012 Seville Report which found that British security forces supplied the information used by Unionist paramilitaries to target the McAllister home.
In a subsequent appeal hearing, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry (the older sister of President Donald Trump) wrote: “I refuse to believe that ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…’ is now an empty entreaty, but if it is, shame on us…..The problem here, though, is that Congress’s definition of ‘terrorist activity’ sweeps in not only the big guy but also the little guy who poses no risk to anyone. It sweeps in Malachy McAllister…. I would ask — no, I would implore — the Attorney General to exercise his discretion and permit this deserving family to stay.”
The President’s sister correctly saw that the decision to deport Malachy McAllister goes beyond the fate of one family; our most treasured values and history as a land of freedom and new opportunities are also on trial. Mr. McAllister’s asylum request was derailed as an unintended consequence of 9/11 legislation; now it seems he is to be deported as collateral damage to the current debate on asylum. Legitimate questions can and should be raised about abuse of the asylum process, but it is hard to make a credible claim of abuse when confronted with the evidence of 26 AK-47 rounds fire at a child filled home under the direction of State security forces.
The Hibernians join the president’s sister and the bipartisan entreaties of senior members of the Senate and Congress in the call that Mr. McAllister deportation be stayed; justice and our American values should not be sacrificed to the political expediency of the moment.
If expressions of support from powerful and influential people are anything to go by, Malachy McAllister should have a chance of remaining in the United States after Tuesday, April 30. If those expressions of support are ignored by unnamed powerful and influential people in the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration, all will have been for naught. The latest champion of McAllister’s bid to sustain his American life of 23 years and counting is New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The cardinal, according to McAllister, has reached out to the White House on the Belfast man’s behalf. According to McAllister, Irish Ambassador to the United States, Dan Mulhall, has highlighted his support for the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process with Vice Admiral David P. Pekoske, acting Deputy Secretary in DHS. Others supporting McAllister’s bid to avoid deportation include NYPD PBA President Patrick Lynch and members of the New York 69th Regiment. Meanwhile, two of Malachy’s children, Nicola and Sean, remain in immigration status limbo. Malachy’s seven-year-old American born son, Cadán, is also a potential casualty if his father is deported. And there are McAllister’s five American-born grandchildren. Many politicians have rallied to McAllister’s side and Congressman Peter King has written a letter to his fellow Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, urging another effort to secure a stay of deportation. King’s letter to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is reported in this week’s print issue of the Echo. Supporters of McAllister are again pointing to statement some years ago aimed at the Bush administration by President Trump’s sister, former 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Maryanne Trump Barry who stated: “We cannot be the country we should be if, because of the tragic events of September 11th, we knee-jerk remove decent men and women merely because they may have erred at one point in their lives. We should look a little closer; we should care a little more. I would ask – no, I would implore – the Attorney General to exercise his discretion and permit this deserving family to stay.” Trump Barry added at the time: “Congress’s definition of terrorist activity sweeps in not only the big guy, but also the little guy who poses no risk to anyone. It sweeps in Malachy McAllister (and) Malachy’s children, Seán and Nicola, are swept in, too.” She said that were the McAllister family deported, it would mean the words carved on the Statue of Liberty would no longer mean anything. “I refuse to believe that ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ is now an empty entreaty, but if it is, shame on us,” she said. Meanwhile, McAllister’s legal team has provided DHS with new evidence confirming collusion in the assassination attempt on the McAllister family in 1988. In addition, said a release from the McAllister campaign, a former loyalist paramilitary leader is currently on trial in Belfast for the attempted murder of McAllister, whose family home was shot up by loyalist gunmen. t was that home attack that prompted McAllister, his late wife Bernadette, and their four children, to flee Northern Ireland, first to Canada and later the United States.
This poem is from the point of view of Brian Boru. He was the High King of Ireland who routed the plunderous and rapacious Danish Vikings at The Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014. This was on Good Friday, the day of Christ’s crucifixion, referenced in the poem. Immediately following his great victory, driving the invader away, King Brian was killed. Like many Irish heroes, just when he was needed the most.
“Stand Ye Now For Erin’s Glory”
Stand ye now for Erin’s glory! Stand ye now for Erin’s cause! Long ye’ve groaned beneath the rigor of the Northmen’s savage laws. What though brothers league against us? What, though myriads be the foe? Victory will be more honored in the myriads’ overthrow.
“Proud Connacians! oft we’ve wrangled in our petty feuds of yore; Now we fight against the robber Dane upon our native shore; May our hearts unite in friendship, as our blood in one red tide, While we crush their mail-clad legions, and annihilate their pride! “Brave Eugenians! Erin triumphs in the sight she sees to-day— Desmond’s homesteads all deserted for the muster and the fray! Cluan’s vale and Galtees’ summit send their bravest and their best— May such hearts be theirs forever, for the Freedom of the West!
“Chiefs and Kernes of Dalcassia! Brothers of my past career, Oft we’ve trodden on the pirate-flag that flaunts before us here; You remember Inniscattery, how we bounded on the foe, As the torrent of the mountain bursts upon the plain below!
“They have razed our proudest castles—spoiled the Temples of the Lord— Burned to dust the sacred relics—put the Peaceful to the sword— Desecrated all things holy—as they soon may do again, If their power to-day we smite not—if to-day we be not men!
“On this day the God-man suffered—look upon the sacred sign— May we conquer ‘neath its shadow, as of old did Constantine! May the heathen tribe of Odin fade before it like a dream, And the triumph of this glorious day in our future annuals gleam!
“God of heaven, bless our banner—nerve our sinews for the strife! Fight we now for all that’s holy—for our altars, land and life— For red vengeance on the spoiler, whom the blazing temples trace— For the honor of our maidens and the glory of our race!
“Should I fall before the foeman, ’tis the death I seek to-day; Should ten thousand daggers pierce me, bear my body not away, Till this day of days be over—till the field is fought and won— Then the holy mass be chanted, and the funeral rites be done.
“Men of Erin! men of Erin! grasp the battle-ax: and spear! Chase these Northern wolves before you like a herd of frightened deer! Burst their ranks, like bolts from heaven! Down, on the heathen crew, For the glory of the Crucified, and Erin’s glory too!
5-5-5-5 LODD
Firefighter Christopher Slutman
Ladder Company 27
Wake Transportation Arrangements
Members attending the wake of Firefighter Christopher Slutman on April 25 should be aware that there are no public parking lots available in the vicinity of Joseph A. Lucchese Funeral Home.
Parking will be available at Orchard Beach in the Bronx. A shuttle service from Orchard Beach to the funeral home will be provided for both the 2:00 – 4:00 PM and the 7:00 – 9:00 PM sessions on Thursday. Shuttle service will begin approximately 30 minutes before each session. Shuttle service will end approximately 45 minutes after the completion of each wake session. Department personnel will be present at both the parking lot and drop off location to direct anyone wishing to utilize this service.
The nearest train is the 2 train at the Bronx Park East station, a half mile walk.
Engine 90 / Ladder 41, located at 1843 White Plains Rd in the Bronx, will be open and available to those attending the wake. The firehouse encourages members to stop by for a cup of coffee, and members are also welcome to use the facilities if needed.
