Irish woman legally residing in the U.S. for decades detained by ICE

Global News

29-04-2025

An Irish woman who has been residing in the U.S. for more than 30 years has been detained by immigration authorities for a week because of criminal charges from nearly two decades ago.
Cliona Ward, 54, a 30-year resident of Santa Cruz, Calif., was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco airport on April 21 while returning from a trip to Ireland to visit her sick father and transported to a facility in Tacoma, Wash., where she is currently being held, The Guardian reported.
Ward, who is originally from Dublin, possesses a green card valid until 2033, according to Irish Central. She has prior drug possession charges dating back to 2007 and 2008.
According to a GoFundMe set up by her sister, Orla Holladay, Ward's nearly 20-year-old conviction was expunged.
Before her detainment, Ward supplied all the necessary documentation concerning the decades-old conviction, Holladay said, adding that the requirement to do so was 'in reality, an effort to take her into custody.'
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'She did everything she was supposed to do in order to make reparations for that criminal conviction, and has been gainfully employed, paying taxes and building a family life in Santa Cruz,' Holladay wrote, also telling Newsweek that her sister struggled with addiction in the past, but has been sober for more than 20 years.
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'I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone,' Holladay told NBC Bay Area. 'She has a criminal past which she has atoned for.'
Ward also has a chronically unwell son who relies on her for care, Holladay added to the GoFundMe page plea.
As of publication time, the fundraiser was just a few hundred dollars short of its US$30,000 goal.
A source close to the investigation told NBC Bay Area that Cliona is still under federal custody because her expungement happened at a state level, not federal.
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Irish Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, spoke out against the Trump administration's apparent crackdown on foreign nationals with legal status in the U.S., telling Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ: 'Where people have green cards and citizenship rights, there shouldn't be an issue, so we will be pursuing this on a bilateral basis to make sure that those who are legitimately entitled to be in the U.S. are free from any challenges or difficulties of this kind.'
Meanwhile, California Rep. Jimmy Panetta told NBC Bay Area in a statement: 'It's unimaginable that a reportedly expunged, 20-year-old incident could be used as justification for deporting a legal permanent resident who is a productive member of our community.
'But this is the cruel and unreasonable state of this Administration's deportation policy.
'As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and appreciate the need to remove hardened criminals from our communities, but the detention of Cliona Ward—now in her 50s and a Green Card holder—for decades-old crimes that have reportedly been expunged from her personal record is unfathomable and unacceptable.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised 'the largest deportation operation in American history,' but has outraged and shocked the world with a crackdown on citizens who have status by birth, naturalization or are green card holders.