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Desperate to stay in U.S., some Irish turn to smuggling ring
By HANNAN ADELY
THE JOURNAL NEWS


(Original publication: June 14, 2006)


YONKERS

Thousands of illegal Irish immigrants have made the United States their home, securing jobs, buying houses and businesses, and building relationships here. Many have lived in the country five, 10 or even 15 years under the radar and without penalty. Until, that is, some emergency or family event draws them back to Ireland and returning becomes next to impossible.

Caroline McConville, Aiden Tully and James Shiel had been living illegally in America when circumstances compelled them to travel home. In McConville's case, it was the death of her mother.

They were desperate to get back to their lives here but denied re-entry. Tully worked as a bartender in Queens and Shiel, of Philadelphia, worked in construction and had an American girlfriend. McConville, who lives in Manhattan, was a waitress who reportedly just bought a house.

They turned to the U.S.-Canada border, where federal authorities say a "robust Irish smuggling ring" was operating. In 2005, they made what they thought were successful trips over the border, using false identification to travel into Buffalo.

Then, last month, they were busted. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept through Yonkers, New York City, Boston and Philadelphia and arrested the three Irish nationals and three others, including a well-known Yonkers bar owner and U.S. citizen, who were charged with helping illegal immigrants cross the border.

Their arrests provide a rare glimpse into a world of illegal immigration not normally associated with the region's large Irish community. Most of the illegal Irish simply come posing as tourists and overstay their visas, a considerably less risky task than sneaking through a border. As English speakers, they blend easily into established Irish-American neighborhoods. Taken together, this means they often are overlooked in the immigration debate now dominating the political agenda.

But in a post-Sept. 11 world where lax immigration controls are a thing of the past and just using the word amnesty is political taboo, illegal immigrants no matter their background are finding themselves stuck in limbo, at risk for arrest and deportation at any time.

Jim Harrington, a Buffalo attorney representing McConville, Tully and Shiel, said his clients faced the the dilemma of leaving careers and relationships they had built in the United States to return to a homeland they had not seen in years to start over.

"Each of them has an established life here. They've been here for a period of time, so it would be a real adjustment for them (to return to Ireland). But when you come here that way, you always have that cloud hanging over your head that someday that may happen," he said.

'Summer of 2004'

In August 2004, a Buffalo couple was caught trying to smuggle an Irish woman over the border in their car with a false driver's license. Federal agents questioned them and uncovered a greater scheme that involved a for-profit people-smuggling ring in the Irish community.

"It all rises out of the summer of 2004," said Terrance Flynn, U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, talking about the recent spate of arrests. "It all rose out of the same ring."

Investigators arrested Bridget Campbell, a Buffalo bar owner and ringleader of the scheme who admitted bringing in between 30 and 50 people illegally over the border for a fee of $1,200 a person. Campbell arranged for Irish citizens to meet escorts in Fort Erie, Canada, and provided them with valid New York driver's licenses with pictures that resembled them.

The immigrants and their drivers traveled over the Peace Bridge to Buffalo and, once safely inside the United States, they fanned out across Irish communities, including Woodlawn in Yonkers and the Bronx and Woodside in Queens. The ICE agents made several arrests related to that case.

Then, on May 4, the investigation hit the Lower Hudson Valley when ICE agents raided a Yonkers home and arrested Sean McEvoy, an Irish native and U.S. citizen. McEvoy was charged with helping a Gaelic football player to come into the country illegally.

Tully, McConville and Shiel were arrested and charged with entering the country illegally. Another arrest was made in Boston, and two more suspects remain at large. Queens bar owner Phillip Reilly, who was in Ireland when the indictments were issued, reported to authorities in late May.

The people who illegally entered the country face up to two years in prison, and those who aided them face up to five years.

Flynn said the people arrested last month were not motivated by money. If they were trying to turn a profit, they would face higher penalties.

"With respect to the indictments, it's our belief they were not based on profit. Their reasons for doing it will come out in trial," Flynn said.

Trying to help

McEvoy and Reilly, both bar owners and U.S. citizens, were trying to help people from their native Ireland when they got caught in the net of the investigation, their lawyer, Michael G. Dowd of Manhattan, said.

McEvoy, a volunteer coach with the Gaelic Football Association, invited the Cavan Football Club to hold one of its regular meetings in the basement of a bar he owns. The club wanted to raise money to bring Irish player Shane Lawlor to New York for the 2005 summer season. Members collected $2,000 for Lawlor's expenses, and McEvoy himself contributed $200.

McEvoy offered to get money orders to send to Lawlor so he could come play in New York. Dowd said McEvoy believed the money would be used for plane fare and for expenses once Lawlor reached America.

"He had no knowledge that he (Lawlor) came over the border illegally and he had nothing to do with him," said Dowd, who spoke on behalf of his client, who declined to be interviewed. "I think in this particular case it is just a mistake."

McEvoy, who also works full time for the Transit Authority, pleaded not guilty in court.

Reilly, who also pleaded not guilty, was charged with helping three people come into the country after he allegedly referred them to Campbell's services.

Dowd, who also represents Reilly, said Reilly did not know the nature of Campbell's work, only that she helped with immigration, and that he did not know two of the people whom he is alleged to have helped.

"He had no idea that people even made a connection with her, because he doesn't know who those people are, and he certainly didn't think anybody was violating the law," he said.

The Canada route

For years, Canada offered a pipeline for Irish illegal immigrants, who saw it as a low-risk way into America.

Over the past 36 years that Harrington has practiced law in Buffalo, he said he has seen people of all nationalities, including the Irish, attempt to illegally cross the northern border. "It's not in any great numbers, but people just do it all the time," he said.

Still, he said the Irish crossings have increased in recent years in part because of the smuggling ring, which spread through word of mouth, and because of tighter immigration controls. In the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the federal government has heightened security at airports and seaports and at its borders with Mexico and Canada. Many illegal Irish immigrants who had to return home were caught overstaying their visas and banned from re-entering the country.

Immigration counselors at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, based in Queens and the Bronx, offer advice to visa-seeking residents in the New York area but caution against any illegal border crossing.

"The service our center would provide would clearly explain the dangers surrounding coming over the border illegally," said Siobhan Dennehy, executive director of Emerald Isle. "It's certainly something you can't condone."

Feeling uneasy

The ICE bust sent chills through the Irish community, who feared that the federal government was rounding up illegal immigrants. Irish community leaders consoled the community, telling them the arrests were related to a particular investigation.

Still, people who have crossed through Canada illegally may have cause for concern. The U.S. attorney general said in a statement that the recent arrests "appear to have shut down what was an active smuggling pipeline from Canada into the United States."

But he did not rule out future arrests. "We can't comment on the fact that there will be no more arrests," Flynn said.

The whole situation creates a certain uneasiness for those without legal status in the Irish community, Dennehy said.

"They themselves may not have done that border crossing (through Canada), but it still makes them stop and think," she said. "It's forcing people to rethink their situation and future in America. Everything is hanging in the balance right now."