Around New England

ICE Deports Former IRA Terrorist Back To Northern Ireland

July 24, 2020

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed a former terrorist and illegal immigrant from Massachusetts and sent him back to his native country earlier this week.

On July 20, ICE deported Darcy McMenamin from the United States. Back in 1993 when he was 18 years old, McMenamin was a member of the Irish Republican Army and bombed a police station near Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, drawing a prison sentence of eight years, according to an ICE press release.

McMenamin had lived in the United States for several years, having entered without disclosing his criminal record, as is required by U.S. law.

Randolph police originally arrested McMenamin on November 2, 2019 for leasing a vehicle under a fraudulent identity and driving with a suspended license. When they ran his fingerprints, his illegal status turned up.

“There is no safe haven in the U.S. for foreign nationals convicted of terrorist activities,” Todd Lyons, the field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, said in a written statement Thursday, July 23. “ERO Boston officers still continue their duties even during these trying times.”

This past April the American Civil Liberties Union sought McMenamin’s release from detention at Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth, on the grounds that his lung disease and otherwise poor health made him particularly vulnerable to coronavirus.

McMenamin was 44 years old in April, according to court papers. He suffered a stroke in January 2020 while at the house of correction, according to court papers.

McMenamin recently tested negative for coronavirus, according to a court document filed July 15 by a lawyer in U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office.

The document states that McMenamin was scheduled to be deported this week to Great Britain, which administers Northern Ireland.


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