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THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S crackdown on illegal and undocumented immigrants is creating ‘fear across the board’ for Irish migrants in the US, a leading lawyer has said.
Since he came into office, Donald Trump has been pouring resources into arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants as he aims to carry out the immigration purge that was promised during the presidential campaign.
Trump vowed to undertake the largest number of mass deportations in US history as president.
But while the Trump White House said deportations would prioritise immigrants with criminal records, his “border czar” Tom Homan said there would be “collateral arrests,” meaning some immigrants without criminal records could also be detained.
“The fear is across the board, and it’s not just undocumented people that are feeling afraid,” Irish immigration lawyer Fiona McEntee told The Journal.
She founded the Chicago-based McEntee Law Group, which focuses on immigration law.
McEntee noted that people who have “green cards, visas, and even naturalised US citizens” are also feeling this fear.
A naturalised US citizen is someone who was not born in the United States but has legally acquired citizenship.
A green card allows a person to live and work in the US and start the process to become a naturalised citizen – but there have been recent high-profile cases of people who hold green cards being deported for taking part in pro-Palestine protests.
“The green card is a significant milestone in immigration and it takes a lot of work to get to that point,” said McEntee.
“We would have viewed that as something that could not really be taken away, absent some very specific circumstances, such as committing a serious crime.”
There is a perception that “Irish privilege” can prevent the undocumented Irish in the US from being fearful of Trump’s deportations.
But McEntee noted that Irish people have been deported under previous administrations.
“If you’re an English-speaking white immigrant, there is a certain privilege,” said McEntee.
“There is a lot of racial profiling here and people are being targeted based on looking like an immigrant, which is just ridiculous.
“But it’s not accurate to say that Irish people have not been subject to immigration enforcement in the past.”
It’s estimated there are around 10,000 undocumented Irish immigrants across the US but exact figures are understandably difficult to come by.
Between 2022 and 2024, 158 Irish people were detained by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations and 131 were removed from the US for immigration violations.
“And now, this administration seems to be trying to meet some kind of quota and they’re doing all these raids and sweeps and casting a massively wide net,” said McEntee.
There have been reports that the Trump administration is requiring at least 1,500 arrests per day by ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We’re a small country so we have a smaller number of people here in the US than other countries.
“Some of the [enforcement measures] we’re seeing are targeting certain groups like Venezuelan immigrants, but others are getting caught up in that as well.”
McEntee also noted the tough tone struck by Trump’s border czar, who was once an acting director of ICE.
Last year, Homan said: “As a guy who spent 34 years deporting illegal aliens, I got a message to the millions of illegal aliens… you better start packing now, because you’re going home.”
Meanwhile, McEntee noted that pathways to citizenship are complex and there is “often no place in the immigration system for them to go”.
And while working without authorisation or overstaying your welcome may be forgiven in certain circumstances, a criminal background, no matter how minor, won’t.
Meanwhile, McEntee re-iterated a warning that was issued last week to students going to the US on a J1 visa.
The Union of Students in Ireland warned of the “potential risks” of being involved in activism amid recent cases of students without US citizenship being arrested and threatened with deportation after taking part in pro-Palestine protests at universities.
“People need to be extremely careful about any type of political activism, including on social media, because this administration is taking a different stance to the Biden administration in relation to what they consider to be antisemitic and anti-American,” said McEntee.
“I appreciate the value of free speech, it’s a constitutional right here in the US, but the way we’re seeing this play out is extremely troubling and concerning.”
She added that visitors to the US should consider their social media history when going before Customs officials.
Last month, a French scientist was reportedly refused entry to the US when customs officials found WhatApp messages on his phone expressing criticism of the Trump administration.
“Customs officials don’t necessarily have to tell you exactly why you’re not getting it,” said McEntee.
“They have a huge amount of power and discretion, and they have said they’re going to start looking at people’s social media in relation to conduct that they deem to be antisemitic.
“If you’re a potential visitor to the US, they have all the cards, you don’t really have any, so it can be a tricky position to be in.”
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Mork calling Orson, come in Orson
Booing a man for his religious beliefs, how much more ignorant are we going to get?
@J P: The guy trying to impose his magical nonsense on others?
How is a giant TV streaming images considered a portal?
Who do them yanks think they are waving there potatoes at us. I tell ye now they better watch it.
9/11?
Reminds me of that tragedy.
Put in a second one opposite this one and they’ll cancel each other out.
It was always only a matter of days, our hours, til the criminal exhibitionists (flashers) came out on one, or other, or both sides of that portal into two of the most intensively densely overpopulated, most acutely unhoused, most socio-economically neglected and divided, most mental health & psyciatrically neglected, most inadequately policed and most collectively disinhibited population, doused with sprinklings of apartheid (social) housing … Cities in the “western” World.
[ gasps for breath ]
How, on earth, did they not plan ahead for this with legislation? In both jurisdictions flashing is illegal…..surely……right? But obviously yer not going to start extradition nonsense. However, there could, and should, have been agreement in place to prosecute the perpetrator in-situ with acceptance of witness-victim testimony by remote means (maybe sworn in the court of their residence/where they were subjected to remote flashing, with a Consular witness of the Nation prosecuting the flasher back home).
However, obviously it would definitely not be acceptable for Ireland to accept imposing other types of laws like fascistic and oppressive New York or AmeriKKKan Laws on Irish Citizens in Ireland.
Such as calls to participate in BDS.
Or, indeed, random demands for prosecution via accusations from “Karen” about Irish-Africans “walking while black” or “laughing while black” (“waaaah! The black man was yelling aggressively at me through the portal….no, he wasn’t laughing. I didn’t mistake laughing for being threatening, I swear!”)
There is a lot that would have been highly predictable to be quite fair. After all, it *is* New York. And it *is* Dublin.
I’m surprised a “Mooning” competition wasn’t launched on the very first night.
Followed swiftly by a congress of transatlantic Flashers competing against each other for “I got most views in your country….before my police caught me”.
[ vomit ]
In addition to which, obviously, a hell of a lot of anti-War anti-AmeriKKKan political expression was always going to feature.
So it’s just not good enough for Irish Media to partake in this yankee half-truths half-information white-washing and censor-it-out BS. If Irish people have presented fair criticism of AmeriKKKan War Crimes in the name of their incessant whinging about their “9/11″, or fair criticisms of their unjustified and unjustifiable Torture and Terrorisation of Muslims and Arabs (including children!) in Guantanamo and Abu Graib and on AmeriKKKan streets, or fair criticisms of their War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, or fair criticism of their hysterics of an anticipatable (not justifiable under Int’l Law) comeuppence which they are currently repeating with their blind, unhinged, and unmeasured support of gross violations of International Law by Israel – an affront to International Civil Society itself, and an insult to all victims of the Holocaust – then report the truth of that, and quote it, and more importantly: defend it!
Defend the Right of Irish people to express their grievance and criticism directly to the yankees that drove, and continue to drive, International neo-anti-Semitism towards all Muslims and all Arabs. And who, by and through those acts of neo-Anti-Semitism empower and have empowered numerous Nations to conduct Genocides in the name of suppressing Muslim or Arab minorities (China: Uyghur; Russia: Chechens [b4 Kadyrov]; Myanmar: Rhohinga; India Hindutva: Indian Muslims; NATO: Iraq; Zionism: multi-faith Palestinians but especially Muslims; Russia: Crimean Tatars [...plus their "Cossack" sympathisers] aka Ukraine).
However, obviously if it is conspiracy theory offensive – don’t defend it. But DO report it. Openly, clearly. Don’t censor it in ambiguous generic references.
Either expression and journalism is free, or it is not, in these two supposedly “free” Nations.
Which is it?
Reminder: one of these two aformentioned Nations has had a member of the Free Press locked up by a 3rd Nation for 5 years, has harassed and terrorised that same member of the Free Press for 13 years, simply for Justifiably disclosing the War Crimes (Extra-Judicial Assassination on Reuters Journos) of said Nation.
A War Crime, unprosecuted, that has now subsequently provided Precedence for non-prosecution at International Courts *and* an Open Season Free-For-All *and* a free pass to **Israel** to commit multiple acts of Extra-Judicial Assassinations on members of the Free Press – from American citizen Shireen Abu Akleh totargetted assasinations of +103 Journalists in Gaza, and another 3 in Lebanon, since October ’23.
“Art” is never “just Art”.
@Pink Freud: yawn. I fell asleep after a few sentences.
@Dave Barrett: Forget it. Nice, good things like this, aren’t meant for us.
@Pink Freud: Can you say that again
@Pink Freud: you have way to much time on your hands
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