An Irish woman detained by immigration authorities while returning to the US after a trip to Cork may have to wait months before her case comes before the courts, her family has said.
Cliona Ward, a long-time resident of California, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month after travelling to Ireland to see her terminally ill father.
"They had said May 7 was given as a date, and yesterday we were told that 'no, it could be as late as August before she actually gets to stand in front of a judge'", Cliona’s sister, Tracey, told Prime Time.
She spoke to presenter Sarah McInerney from her home in West Cork.
Until a court date is set, Cliona will remain in an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington. Tracey said she understood the conditions in the detention centre are "absolutely horrific."
"Her heart is broken for the women that she is around... she's immersed in her own pain and immersed in the pain of all these other women and hearing their stories about being separated from young children."
"She’s separated from her son who relies on her care," Tracey said, "but imagining these other women who have small children that are being held in detention centres on the other side of the country is breaking her heart."
Cliona is a green card holder, which allows her to live and work permanently in the US. She has lived legally in the US for decades.
She was initially detained in relation to a small number of 20-year-old criminal convictions involving possession of drugs and misdemeanours related to traffic issues, which she understood had been expunged following a guilty plea.
"The reason they’re giving is that expungement in a State is not recognised by federal law," Tracey explained.
"The agents said that since January 31st of this year, there was a whole lot of new mandates they were given to follow up. Trump has them really clamping down on anyone with a green card who might have anything in their past that can be used against them."
After being detained by ICE in Seattle, Cliona was briefly released but told to report to San Francisco with further documents and proof of her expungement, Tracey said.
However, in San Francisco she was rearrested and put on a plane to Tacoma, Washington.
"[She] was met at the airport by ICE agents and shackled and chained and walked through the airport in shackles and chains. And now she's in an ICE detention centre," Tracey said.
She noted Cliona had visited Ireland and returned to the US on a number of occasions over the last 20 years without issue.
"As far as she was concerned, this was 20 years ago... She had gone through the court system, done everything that the courts in California had asked her to do, rebuilding her life, becoming an amazing part of her community, believing that she had paid her dues," Tracey said.
"They never at any time told her that would only be on a state level and not recognised federally," she added.
