Nobody likes la migra. Nobody understands la migra.

The INS gets blasted when it unknowingly lets anonymous terrorists into
the country. The INS gets blasted when it keeps known terrorists out of
the country. The first example is the WTC nutjobs, the second is Devlin
McAliskey.

If, like RuminateThis
you were an “Irish-Catholic kid” in Brooklyn, you might consider McAliskey
a “heroine” and a “world-renowned Irish civil rights leader” then her
“deportation” is indeed a travesty and miscarriage of justice. It then
becomes easy to imply that she was removed because “she spoke out against
US-British plans for a war on Iraq”.

If, like myself, you are a professional civil servant denied any avenue
for political preference in the conduct of your duties, you consider
McAliskey a HREF=”http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usdev253146306feb25,0,3
228573.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines”>convicted
felon and terrorist supporter. In which case her expedited removal is
a routine enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. I could no more allow her
to enter the United States than I could give Osama bin Laden a free pass.
It would be negligent, it would be criminal and it would be a violation of
my oath of service to the U.S. Constitution.

Because of her multiple convictions (including inciting a riot and
assault) she, unlike her law abiding compatriots, requires a visa to enter
the United States. Further, that visa must include a waiver from the State
Department stating that even though she is a felon she may be admitted to
the U.S.

However, because she had entered the United States with the intent to
raise money for a terrorist organization (the Irish Nationalist Liberation
Army) she violated another section of the U.S. law, for which she would
require yet another waiver. The State Department, understandably, was
unwilling to grant a waiver for someone who continued to support and
incite terrorist activity. Would you have them granted a waiver to a Hamas
lieutenant? So why for the INLA?

Sure she was allowed on the plane by the airline: they thought she was
just another Irish traveler would could enter without a visa. If they’d
known she was a terrorist they probably wouldn’t have allowed her to board
even with a visa. …Kinda like the unfortunate IRA bomber who had to sit
in INS detention because British Airways wouldn’t let him on a
plane.

Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers
Association, said she was appalled by the action. “It would not surprise
me if they had caught some Arab or Muslim political figure and kept him
out.” Like Yassir Arafat, who also needs a DOS waiver? “But to stop people
who may have been sympathetic to the IRA, it’s frightening to me.”

Yeah, well, catching terrorists is part of my job. Figuring out who’s a
freedom fighter is, frankly, way above my pay grade.