IRA bomber released under peace deal deported from United States
A convicted IRA bomber who was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement has been deported from the United States.
Darcy Gearoid Mcmenamin was 18 years old when, in 1993, he helped launch a mortar attack on a vacant police station in the village of Fintona, ending the IRA’S annual Christmas truce.
The attack caused minor injuries to two passers-by and McMenamin is reported to have received an eight-year prison sentence before his early release.
The son of a late Sinn Fein councillor from Tattyreagh in Co Tyrone, he later moved to Boston where he has lived ever since as an undocumented immigrant.
This week, officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced he had been deported.
A statement said the “illegally present Irish national” was removed from the United States on
Monday after a Boston judge denied his request to stay on June 3.
Mcmenamin entered and departed the US via the visa waiver programme multiple times between 2000 and 2007, but failed to disclose this criminal past as required.
Customs officers provided him with port-authorised parole for a few days for the birth of his child in 2007, but he never departed in violation of immigration law.
ICE’S director for Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston, Todd Lyons, said: “There is no safe haven in the US for foreign nationals convicted of terrorist activities. Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston officers still continue their duties even during these trying times.”
He added: “Those who believe they can hide in the US from their crimes including terrorist activities they committed in other countries are in for a rude awakening.
“ICE remains committed to removing dangerous foreign nationals from the US, even those who may have managed to evade immigration law for a lengthy period of time.”
The statement added: “ICE is focused on removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws and those convicted of terrorist activities, including those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges.”