Irish women legally reside in the United States and have been detained in ice for decades – Country
An Irish woman who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years has been detained by immigration authorities for a week due to criminal charges nearly two decades ago.
Cliona Ward, 54, detained Cliona Ward, 54, on April 21 at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco Airport, who was detained on April 21 at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco Airport, while reportedly being held in Ireland to visit her sick father and transported to a facility in Tacoma, Washington.
Ward originally came from Dublin and didn’t own a green card until 2033, according to Irish Central. She previously had drug charges dating back to 2007 and 2008.
Ward's nearly 20-year-old conviction was removed based on Gofundme, founded by her sister Orla Holladay.
Before being detained, Ward provided all the necessary documents on decades of convictions, adding that the requirement to do so was “in fact, efforts to detain her.”
“She did everything she should have done in order to compensate for such criminal convictions and has been paid, paid taxes and established a family life in Santa Cruz,” Hollardi wrote.
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“I feel like I live in the Twilight Zone,” Hollardi told the NBC Bay Area. “She has a sinful past and she atones for her sins.”
Ward also has a long-term uncomfortable son who relies on her to take care of, Holladay added in a request for Gofundme Page.
As of publication time, the fundraiser was only a few hundred dollars higher than its $30,000 target.
Sources close to the investigation told the NBC Bay area that Cleona is still in federal custody because her intake occurs at the state level, not the federal one.
Doysach of Ireland, Micheál Martin, opposing the Trump administration’s apparent repression of foreign nationals with U.S. legal status, told Ireland’s national broadcaster Rté: “Where people have green cards and civil rights, there should be no problem, so we will pursue this problem on a futile basis to ensure that those who are struggling from legalization or have a legal scope, which is a reasonable scope or freedom.
Meanwhile, California Rep. Jimmy Panetta told the NBC Bay Area in a statement: “The reportedly 20-year-old incidents that have been deleted can be used as a reason to expel legal permanent residents of valid members of our community.
“But this is a cruel and unreasonable state of the government’s deportation policy.
“As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and thank you for the need to remove stubborn criminals from our community, but the decades of crimes that Cliona Ward, now in her 50s and green card holder, has reportedly removed from her personal records for decades is incredible and unacceptable.
During the campaign, Donald Trump promised “the biggest deportation action in U.S. history” but was angry and shocked the world by citizens who were born, naturalized or green card holders.
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
