this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025

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597

Irish woman living in US for decades detained by immigration officials (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

93 comments fedilink hide all child comments

An Irish woman who has lived legally in the US for four decades has been detained by immigration officials for the last week because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years.

Cliona Ward, 54, was detained at San Francisco airport on 21 April after returning from Ireland to visit her sick father and is being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Tacoma, Washington.

Ward holds a green card but has convictions for drug possession from 2007 and 2008, which she believed had been expunged, her family said.

(page 2) 44 comments

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It would be hilarious to see this regime shooting itself in both feet before shooting itself in the head, if this weren't some route to a full-blown 'eMerGENcy' which they can then use to deactivate democracy all together.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

I'm a citizen and I've been detained like 100 times and I have a clean record. Detaining people over bs isn't new. It's nice that people seem to care at the moment but I bet they don't care enough to fix it, because most people underneath it all are authoritarian. They're happy as long as they're in power and the govt is detaining the "right" people.

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[+] [email protected] -71 points 1 day ago (6 children)

She has two prior felony drug convictions. She thought those were expunged but they weren't. So when she indicated otherwise on her paperwork, that triggered an arrest. This probably would have happened under the Biden administration too, but it wouldn't have made the news.

[+] [email protected] -24 points 1 day ago (12 children)

I find it funny that you're being downvoted when both upvoted responses to you contradict each other.

She posed no flight risk

You believe this was the first time she traveled to and from Ireland in he past 40 years?

After getting off a plane... Not a flight risk! Literally history of leaving the country regularly.

Regardless, 40 years here and hasn't naturalized yet? Odd... But yes if she was to have filled out a form incorrectly or differently than she had before she would be detained until it's cleared up... and immigration judges aren't really well know for having oodles of free time at the moment. So I'm not sure that length of time in detention is valid to discuss here without also talking about how we don't have enough judges for how many cases are currently open.

But the article itself says something pretty incorrect.

“Where people have green cards and citizenship rights there shouldn’t be an issue so we will be pursuing this on a bilateral basis to make sure that those who are legitimately entitled to be in the US are free from any challenges or difficulties of this kind,”

That's wrong. You can lose green card status under a myriad of cases. One of them is simply by leaving the country for an extended period of time. Which the article also fails to outline how long she was in Ireland for.

I don't see any statement from any immigration body or other officials and I don't see any evidence that this is related to her previous convictions in the article... They just bring it up out of nowhere for no apparent rhyme or reason. And since they brought it up... they couldn't confirm? What kind of reporting is this?

the Guardian could not verify this was the case

Why not? Seems like it would be easy to pull up a simple conviction history and see if it's there.

But yes, your assertion that this sort of stuff happened under Biden is correct. My naturalized grandfather (Who's lived in the US for ~40 years and has been naturalized for ~30 years) flew a few times under the Biden administration and was held up by immigration at least once that I recall. Mostly because he still retains his original accent and can be hard to understand (Subject-verb-object structure is kind of optional in his native tongue and he still speaks like that's the case at times. It can be hard to follow).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're aware that 'flight risk' isn't a literal term right? Like, it doesn't mean that there's a chance they're going to board a plane and fly away lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No shit Sherlock.

A person in law enforcement custody who is considered likely to abscond

People who travel regularly are more likely to abscond than someone who doesn't travel at all... Why do I have to explain something so simple?

Literally history of leaving the country regularly.

I even noted that specifically.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because that's a broad generalization that's based on the assumption that being well-traveled makes you more likely to flee the law. Her continual travel to and from her home country has no bearing on whether or not she poses a flight risk. If that were true, anyone that moves away from home and regularly travels by car to and from their hometown should be held in custody.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

their hometown

...

Literally history of leaving the country regularly.

I'm just going to quote this until you read it apparently. Somehow "hometown" = "Country" to you.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Was she leaving the country legally? Yes.

Was she re-entering the country legally? Yes.

Did she ever have a warrant out for her arrest during those times that she left the country? No.

That's the bottom line. But for the sake of the argument, I never equated hometown and country. I merely used it as a metaphor to show you how travelling to her home country doesn't qualify her as a flight risk.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So leaving a town to you is equivalent to the travel it takes to leave the country? You don't see significant differences between the two? Then I can't communicate with you on that particular point. We will not come to any consensus there. Especially when you say "I never equated hometown and country. I merely used it as a metaphor" I never did... but did. Your two sentences directly contradict.

Did she ever have a warrant out for her arrest during those times that she left the country? No.

How do you know this? She thought her stuff was expunged. Which clearly it wasn't since apparently they pulled it up. If it's still in the records somewhere... or she reported it to them inaccurately. That's inconsistent information and I would expect agents to investigate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So leaving a town to you is equivalent to the travel it takes to leave the country?

Other than distance traveled, the time afforded to travel said distance, and providing the requisite documents needed to cross a border(which she had), yes. The article doesn't mention how often she traveled to Ireland. Maybe she went every other year to celebrate Christmas with her family.

Especially when you say "I never equated hometown and country. I merely used it as a metaphor" I never did... but did. Your two sentences directly contradict.

No, using a metaphorical comparison does not literally equate the two things being compared. A metaphor suggests that one thing is like another in some figurative or symbolic way, not that they are literally the same.

She thought her stuff was expunged. Which clearly it wasn't since apparently they pulled it up. If it's still in the records somewhere...

It says in the article that she presented them with documentation of the expungement of her charges. So if she was able to provide them with documentation, it clearly took place. It shouldn't take a law degree to figure out that having your criminal records expunged doesn't wipe any trace of them from government databases. It only removes them from the public eye and prevents them from coming up during background checks for things like housing or employment. The government would still have a record of her prior convictions.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Other than distance traveled, the time afforded to travel said distance, and providing the requisite documents needed to cross a border(which she had)

So then not the same at all? And we know she didn't have all the documents she needed because she had to go get some.

It says in the article that she presented them with documentation of the expungement of her charges.

That would have been a month after the initial detainment. That's why she had to leave to go get the documents. She didn't have it with her at the initial detainment. That's my point. She likely filled out some form incorrectly which didn't match up with what their database says. And now they are detaining her until it's cleared up by a court. It sucks, sure... but this is how it goes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What are you not getting about this situation? She traveled with no issue for 2 decades before this. Why would you need to travel with expungement documents in the first place. That doesn't apply to travel at all, which is why she was released to get them. Being detained by ICE indefinitely isn't a "that sucks...but that's just how it goes sometimes" situation. And that's why there's an article about it. But if you want keep licking boots, you might just get to the center. I won't stop you.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 day ago

But if you want keep licking boots, you might just get to the center. I won’t stop you.

WAAHHHH I have nothing to say so I'll talk about boots!

I'm not sure why so many people have a foot fetish on the fediverse. It's kind of sad.

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