“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.”
