In his November 4 ruling, Judge James Vandello said that Ciarán (pronounced Kee-ran) Ferry did not qualify for asylum because of a previous “serious nonpolitical crime”—a reference to his 1993 conviction and imprisonment in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ferry was arrested after police claimed to have found two guns and ammunition in a car in which he was a passenger. He served seven years of a 22-year sentence in the H-Block wing of Northern Ireland’s Long Kesh prison before being released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.

As precedent, Vandello cited a 1984 Board of Immigration decision against Peter McMullen, another immigrant from Ireland. Stating that McMullen was a member of the Irish Republican Army and had “participated in the persecution of others,” the board declared that he was “therefore barred from receiving asylum.”

The judge also stated that Ferry was a “late filer” for asylum “and is barred from asylum for that reason.” He added that relocation in Britain was a “viable option” for Ferry, however “inconvenient” it might be.

The Irish prisoner’s defenders have continued to explain the events that led up to his asylum application. Ferry married Heaven, who is a U.S. citizen, soon after his release. They lived in Belfast until emigrating to the United States—a decision that followed repeated reports that he was marked for assassination by pro-British death squads.

In spite of receiving a green card and a work permit, the former political prisoner was detained in January of this year after he and his wife turned up for what they thought would be a routine interview for his permanent residency. He has been imprisoned ever since, and has been kept in solitary confinement for the majority of the time.

Ferry explained to the court that he applied for asylum “late,” having already lodged an application for his green card. Judge Vandello said that although this was a “valid excuse,” it “is not one that is recognized by the law.”

The Irish Deportees of America Committee, an organization involved in the fight to stop the deportation of former Irish political prisoners, says that there are hundreds of families of former prisoners in the United States living under the threat of deportation on the basis of previous convictions stemming from their political activities in Northern Ireland.

Following the ruling, Heaven Ferry has spoken in opposition to the threatened deportation of her husband at meetings in Detroit, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. To find out more about the case or to assist with the defense effort, contact the Irish American Unity Conference at (800) 947-4282 or visit www.iauc.org and www.freeciaranferry.com  
 
 
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