US deportations of Europeans could exceed last fiscal year

And in Boston, John Cunningham, a well-known Irishman who had overstayed his visa by 14 years, was sent back to Ireland last week, sending shivers through the city’s sizeable Irish expat community.

“People are very, very concerned and lying low,” says Ronnie Millar, of the Boston-based Irish International Immigrant Center. “The message is that if it can happen to John, it can happen to anyone.”

Europeans comprise about 440,000 of the estimated 11 million people living illegally in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Since just before Trump was elected last November, the U.S. has deported 167,350 foreigners, compared with 240,255 in all of fiscal year 2016. Immigrants from Latin America make up the most by far, with Mexico leading the way at about 93,000.

Among Europeans, Romanians make up the largest share, with 193 deportations so far in fiscal year 2017. Behind are Spain at 117; the United Kingdom at 102; Russia at 81; and Poland at 74. Those countries were also tops last fiscal year; Romania had 176, United Kingdom 160, Poland 160, Spain 115 and Russia 94.

Immigrant advocates say they’ve been urging individuals to know their rights if they’re stopped and for parents to make arrangements for their children in the event they’re detained.

“The worst aspect of these numbers from our perspective is that our community organizations do not know who is being deported and why, and are unable to send immigration attorneys to assist them,” says Dmitri Daniel Glinski, president of the Russian-Speaking Community Council of Manhattan and the Bronx.

In California, San Jose resident Denis Davydov was detained for more than a month after returning from a vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

He was eventually released after his lawyer argued Davydov was legally allowed to re-enter because he’s currently seeking political asylum for being gay and HIV-positive. But he could be forced to return to Russia if his request is denied.

Davydov says the experience of being detained — and the uncertainty it has thrust into his asylum application — has left him feeling vulnerable.

“Before this, I thought I was a doing everything right, but I’m afraid now that doing everything right is not enough. I don’t know what else I can do,” he said. “I feel like it can happen again to me anywhere. In the airport or in the street.”

At the Polish American Association in Chicago, executive director Magdalena Dolas said her organization has been asked to give talks about what residents should do if immigration officials show up at their doorstep.

“People are worrying about their rights,” she said. “It shows there is awareness but that there is also anxiety.”

The Chicago Irish Immigrant Support Center has been receiving triple the number of inquiries on immigration and legal service matters these days as it did a year ago, said Michael Collins, executive director.

There have been 18 deportations among Irish nationwide in the current fiscal year, compared with 26 in all of last fiscal year, according to the ICE data.

Cunningham’s case has still become a cautionary tale among Irish expats in Boston’s Irish community.

“The rumour has gone around, ‘Don’t go in any courthouses, and if you hear a knock on your door and you’re not expecting anyone, don’t answer it,” said Benny Murphy, a 32-year-old bartender in Boston who had been living in this country illegally until about three years ago, when he married a woman who is a U.S. citizen.

Many believe Cunningham simply forgot the golden rule of living in the shadows: Keep your head down.

Months before his arrest, he appeared on a national news show in Ireland to share his experience of living illegally in America.

Cunningham, who declined to comment for this article through his lawyer, also wasn’t squeaky clean. He had a warrant for his arrest for failing to show up in court over a $1,300 dispute with a customer of his electrical contracting business, and state records show he wasn’t a licensed electrician.

Advocates complain Trump, in taking a hardline against immigration scofflaws, is sweeping up many hardworking, taxpaying people, many of whom have raised children who are now U.S. citizens.

The Obama administration, in contrast, focused immigration enforcement on the most serious criminals.

Many of those living here illegally were lulled into a “false sense of security” by the Obama years, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favours more restrictive immigration policies.

“This is a return to more traditional immigration enforcement,” Vaughan said. “There needs to be some level of across-the-board, routine enforcement, in the same way your local police department doesn’t focus only on murder, robbery and rape. They also have traffic patrols.”

But Ali Noorani, executive director of the immigrant-rights group National Immigration Forum, argued the administration is overdoing it.

“It’s pretty clear ICE is removing anyone undocumented they come across,” he said. “The bigger issue is that the Trump administration is wasting really valuable law enforcement resources on many people who aren’t a public safety threat, whether they’re Irish, Latino, Asian or otherwise.”

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Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report. Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be viewed at https://www.apnews.com/search/philip_marcelo .

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This story has been corrected to show that these are federal fiscal year figures, not calendar year totals.

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

US deportations of Europeans could exceed last fiscal year

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