Posted on 04/14/2006 11:31:53 AM PDT by UlsterDavy
Judge lashes US anti-terror laws 'No choice' over deporting ex-INLA man to Britain
By Sean O'Driscoll 14 April 2006
A new Jersey federal judge has lambasted the US government's anti-terrorism policies while agreeing that she had "no choice" but to allow the deportation of a former INLA member and two of his children.
In a very strongly worded opinion, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, a sister of billionaire mogul Donald Trump, said the words engraved under the Statue of Liberty in New York were now meaningless.
She said that Malachy McAllister's conviction for conspiracy to murder an RUC officer was part of an 800-year-old struggle by the Irish people against British oppression and that he could not possibly be considered a threat to US national security.
She appealed to the US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, to intervene. "I would implore the Attorney General to exercise his discretion and permit this deserving family to stay."
The judge said that the US should consider "the 800 years of history that led Malachy to fight with his people to remove British rule, and the persecution inflicted by that rule on Northern Ireland and on Malachy and his family."
She also said it was a shame on the US if the words engraved under the Statue of Liberty are now meaningless.
"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."
Concurring with the three judge appeal court that the McAllister family should be deported under US anti-terrorism laws, she said that she had struggled to find a way to keep the family in the US.
"I concede. I cannot find a way to keep the McAllisters in this country, and I have surely tried ? 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. Malachy's children, Sean and Nicola, are swept in, too," she said.
The ruling appears to end legal hopes for McAllister, who fled with his family to Canada and the US after loyalists fired 26 shots into his Belfast home in 1988.
However, his Belfast- born lawyer, Eamonn Dornan, said that New Jersey Congressman Steven Rothman will be introducing legislation into the House of Representatives specifically to halt the family's deportation.
In deciding the case, the three-judge court agreed that existing law did not allow the McAllister family to stay in the US but differed sharply on Mr McAllister's claim that his family would still be under threat if they returned to the UK.
Judge Jane Roth said that the McAllister family faced little danger of persecution in Northern Ireland. She said that the Board of Immigration Appeal were justified in ruling against the McAllisters, based on a US government report on Northern Ireland.
She noted that the report found that "Catholic nationalists, conservatives, and IRA supporters and former IRA members (even those who were convicted and sentenced for terrorist offenses) were able to freely go about their lives, hold prominent positions in business, government, education and other walks of life, and participate openly in the political process and hold public office."
Mr Dornan said that the decision was not unexpected, given the views expressed at a hearing of the appeal court last July.
He said a number of members of Congress hope to persuade the Attorney General not to proceed with the deportation.
"Shut up and judge"
Nominated by Ronald Reagan.
"She said that Malachy McAllister's conviction for conspiracy to murder an RUC officer was..."
Pssssssst. The inscription says nothing about give me your thugs, murderers and terrorists. Judge...you're fired.
Ping
Roughly translated, she said, "I got family money, so I can talk from a high-falutin' position in life and lecture all you bobos".
How do people with absolutely no common sense ever get to be judges. OH, I know, they were lawyers first! That explains it.
You're exactly right, but sadly she won't be cashiered.
Surprised.
She gave positively glowing testimony for Justice Alito during his confirmation hearings.
"She said that Malachy McAllister's conviction for conspiracy to murder an RUC officer was..."
The judge wants to make the law against murder meaningless.
For real...
So to the judge, violence against the democratic wishes of the Ulster people isn't terrorism.
She sure did. Very articulate. Sounded like an intelligent lady. If I understand her argument here correctly, we are supposed to sympathize with the ongoing struggles between peoples in their own land even though they have decided to come to the US? And our laws shouldn't have precedence over their historical enmities?
Well, to give her credit, she did decide to return this family even though she didn't want to.
So... she didn't want a terrorist to stand trial?
Understand that she's just a woman. Linear thinking is not their forte.
INLA___now that's an acronym I haven't heard in a while. I guess there are still remnants of them around. They also had a political wing IRSP---pretty much Marxist. From what I know the INLA pretty much fell apart after the Hunger Strike. I didn't know the Donald sister was a judge.
Agreed. The judge is positively hydrophobic -- foaming at the mouth -- and lacking all sense.
I'm beginning to think 2/3 of the judges in this country are clueless and a disgrace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.