Menendez Celebrates Decision to Halt NJ Leader's Deportation

Press Release

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) issued the following statement after a decision from the Department of Homeland Security to stop the deportation of Mr. Malachy McAllister, a New Jersey resident and respected Irish community leader, who was facing deportation on April 25th despite being granted Deferred Action by DHS since 2007. Mr. McAllister has been granted Deferred Action until April 21, 2017.

Menendez led efforts in the Senate to ensure McAllister was granted this temporary reprieve to prevent his family from being separated, hosting him in his D.C. office, advocating for a full review of this case directly to ICE Director Sarah Saldaña and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and even taking the extraordinary step of introducing a Private Immigration Relief Bill last week as he originally did back in 2007 when the McAllisters first faced the threat of being torn apart by an unjust deportation.

"This was too close of a call, but I am delighted that the Department of Homeland Security will not remove Mr. McAllister on Monday April 25. Abruptly deporting a community leader who obviously does not pose a national security or public safety threat would have been a gross injustice. I've been working for many years to keep Malachy McAllister and his family together, and now they can carry on with their lives as an integral part of New Jersey's community where they belong."

"This family has gone through enough already, and I will continue to work with them to find a long term resolution to their case as it would be contrary to the spirit of the U.S. values to return Mr. McAllister to a place he fled because the lives of his children and family were put in jeopardy."

Malachy and his family fled Northern Ireland in 1988 to escape persecution for their political beliefs after pro-British loyalists fired 26 rounds of ammunition into his home, nearly injuring his children. Malachy, his wife Bernadette, since deceased, and his children, Gary, Jamie, Nicola, and Sean Ryan left Ireland to escape these death threats. Malachy and his family have resided in New Jersey for twenty years.

The McAllisters had received temporary deportation reprieve every year since 2007, and sons Sean Ryan and Nicola also received temporary deportation relief under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program.

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