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This
morning I received an e-mail from a writer in New
York. His anger was evident. Bernadette McAliskey
had just been prevented from entering the United States
and had been returned to Dublin from O’Hare Airport
in Chicago. He pointed out that the former civil rights
activist who was once elected to Westminster had been
travelling to the States for the past 34 years and
that this was an unprecedented move against her. Saying
that he was not fully aware of the details he advised
The Blanket to hold off on any story until
the dust had settled somewhat. Then, word came through
that a report of the matter had been carried on Counterpunch.
With
the issue now set to traverse the public domain I
rang Bernadette McAliskey to get her view. When she
came to the phone I greeted her with, 'so I am speaking
to a bona fide deportee.' Her laugh, the offspring
of an indomitable spirit, wasted little time in persuading
me that while she may have been angry she was undaunted
by her ordeal.
‘So
what did you do to fall foul of Uncle Sam?’ I
asked. She didn’t look Arabic and they hardly
thought she was French. ‘Just did things the
way the Americans ask that they be done,’ she
told me. She had travelled to the States with her
daughter Deirdre intending to stay a week. She had
completed her paperwork in the same manner that she
had been doing since 1989. Everything was in order
and she expected the trip to be pretty much like the
numerous others she had made.
On
arrival in O’Hare, she sensed trouble when her
name was announced over the tannoy system. ‘I
was told right away that I was being treated as if
I was Mrs Al Qaida.’ A ‘very jumpy’
immigration official approached her and she was advised
to accompany him, not to lift anything, nor try to
escape. A fax had been sent to O’Hare from an
American immigration official in Shannon wrongly telling
US officials that Bernadette was not entitled
to a visa waiver and that she had fraudulently filled
in her documentation. She found the behaviour of the
O’Hare immigration officials ‘very threatening
and aggressive.’ She was informed that she had
no rights to which she responded that she had human
rights and the US government was obligated to uphold
those rights. This was greeted with contempt. Those
detaining her told her that there were no rights for
anyone not of US nationality since 9/11. When she
insisted on her rights she was informed by a Mr Squires,
‘if you tell us again that you have rights you
will be handcuffed and led to prison.’
Mr
Squires’ gofer, obviously not impressed with
the refusal of Bernadette to emulate himself and slavishly
take orders from Mr Squires, warned her, ‘don’t
mess with my boss as he can shoot you. He shot over
the head of a Russian last week.’
The
officials then insisted on photographing and fingerprinting
the detained woman. She objected and was told that
it would be imposed upon her by force. After her demeaning
experience, throughout which she was denied access
to a lawyer, she was escorted to the plane by an armed
guard and sent back to Ireland.
Bernadette
says that she is lodging complaints and what she wants
to know from the Irish government is who is responsible
for protecting her rights from abuse by an American
official on Irish soil. The Shannon based immigration
official arbitrarily sent information to Immigration
and Naturalization at O’Hare which led to her
rights being violated. These included freedom of the
security of her person, freedom of expression and
freedom of movement. ‘I want to know what is
my right. I want to know who is going to protect me
from the actions of a foreign government official
working in my own country.’
McAliskey
said her detention and expulsion from the US was a
symptom of President George Bush’s abuse of authority
at a time when he was preparing the country for a
war on Iraq - all dissenting voices had to be shut
down. A woman who has travelled consistently to the
US over the past three decades has arbitrarily been
deemed by the State Department as someone who ‘poses
a serious threat to the security of the United States.’
Her
daughter Deirdre rubbished such a notion: ‘I
can't imagine what threat they could think she poses
to US security. Unless the threat is knowing too much
and saying it too well.’
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