An Irish woman who had legally been living in Santa Cruz for more than 30 years was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this month after returning home from an overseas trip.
Green-card holder Cliona Ward, 54, first ran into legal trouble in March after arriving back in the U.S. from a trip to Ireland to visit her father with dementia, according to a GoFundMe page set up by her sister, Orla Holladay, to cover legal costs.
She was detained and questioned by customs at the San Francisco airport over her past criminal record, which stretched between 2003 to 2008 and included some felony charges pertaining to the possession of drugs, according to NBC Bay Area.
Ward claimed her convictions were expunged however, prompting customs to temporarily release her to obtain the appropriate documentation to prove that her records had been cleared in California.
When she went to plead her case at SFO Customs on April 21 and present proof of her expungement, she was detained once more and told to argue her case in front of an immigration judge, according to NBC Bay Area.
“She has a son who is an American citizen, who she is currently a caretaker for because he’s chronically ill,” Holladay told NBC Bay Area. “I feel like I’m in the twilight zone. She’s not a criminal. She has a criminal past, which she was atoned for,” adding that her sister struggled with addiction in a separate interview with Newsweek.
In a recent update to Ward’s GoFundMe Page, Holladay wrote that her sister was being held in an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington.
“I just got to talk to Cliona. She said that she has been really depressed but knowing people are keeping eyes on her lifted her again,” Holladay wrote Saturday. “She shared that although she can’t speak with the majority of the women in there because most don’t speak English they have been giving each other support and there are lots of tears and hugs between the women.”
ICE did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
According to NBC, Ward is slated to appear in court for a hearing on May 7.
“It’s unimaginable that a reportedly expunged, 20-year-old incident could be used as justification for deporting a legal permanent resident who is a productive member of our community,” California Rep. Jimmy Panetta, whose district includes Santa Cruz, said in a statement per NBC.
“But this is the cruel and unreasonable state of this Administration’s deportation policy. As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and appreciate the need to remove hardened criminals from our communities, but the detention of Cliona Ward—now in her 50s and a Green Card holder—for decades-old crimes that have reportedly been expunged from her personal record is unfathomable and unacceptable.
“I am continuing to press U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the release of Ms. Ward and am working closely with her advocates to coordinate our efforts, ensure transparency, and uphold the law and due process that must be afforded to everyone in the United States.”
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