When you have U.S. residency, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not you can come back home. Unfortunately, in our current political climate, people are finding out that it’s far from easy. This is the nightmare an Illinois woman is currently going through with her brother. She never thought a trip to Ireland to bury their mother would end in tragedy, leaving her to feel helpless about her next steps.
In a TikTok video shared by user DeirdreJane, she admitted she’s feeling devastated now without her brother in Illinois. She said she’s working for the 40th ward and is a councilor for the 20th police district in her community. Two weeks ago, she and her family went to Ireland to bury their mother, as was her wish due to growing up in Ireland before she immigrated. Deirdre made the trip with three of her younger siblings. While in Ireland, she was watching news back home and started to panic.
She heard horror stories about the Trump administration and people being ‘kidnapped’ at Customs, never being permitted into the U.S. again. Or worse, disappearing in detention centers. She was immediately scared for her brother, a legal permanent resident in the US. However, he was arrested on a felony charge (a non-violent conviction) when he was a young man many years ago.
Unfortunately, Deirdre’s nightmare came true. When they went through customs in Dublin, her brother was fingerprinted twice and then interrogated alone in a room. When they questioned him, they brought up his arrest record. They initially told him everything was going to be okay, but at some point changed their minds. Suddenly, they were telling him he was being denied clearance.
At this point, Deirdre said “all the red flags went off.” She told her brother that it seemed like they were already playing games with him in Dublin. If he made it to Chicago some other way, she said she’s “terrified that you’ll end up in a detention center if you try to go through Chicago,” so her brother decided to remain in Ireland. Deirdre and her family have been talking to a lawyer since then. Their lawyer discovered that, in fact, her brother’s permanent residency is being revoked.
“By deporting everybody, he’s somehow going to make this country a better place when it’s been built on immigrants,” Deirdre argues in her video, pushing against President Trump and his followers’ hateful narrative against immigrants.
“Permanent residency should mean just that. I’m so sorry your family is going through this,” one commenter argued.
“The fact that they’re using old crimes that have already been adjudicated and settled is heinous. Also, permanent resident means permanent resident, and there’s no obligation to become a citizen,” another person echoed. For now, Deirdre’s brother is safe in Ireland, but the fact this is happening at all is pretty gross.
