Ex-IRA man flees US after 40 years over deportation fears
A former IRA member who had been living in the US for 40 years has 'self-deported' back to Ireland over fears that he might be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Derry man Matthew Morrison whose previous deportation proceedings were terminated during the Clinton administration, took a one-way flight back to Dublin in July.
'I would bite the dust in an ICE holding cell,' the 69-year-old told The Marshall Project - St Louis before he left the US.
'There is nothing to stop them from deporting me to Ecuador, South Sudan, or whatever.
Morrison with his American wife Sandra Riley Swift
News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th
"It's really gotten insane here. It's crazy what they are doing now, the Trump administration. You know what I mean?'
According to Irish Central, Morrison, who is from the Brandywell in Derry, was 16 years old when he marched in the civil rights demonstration on Bloody Sunday in 1970.
Morrison described how Bloody Sunday when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing 13 people, was a "watershed moment of great significance" which has played a part in him join the Irish Republican Army.
As a student at the New University of Ulster in 1975, he and two other students were arrested, charged, and convicted in a British non-jury court of the attempted murder of an RUC man.
He served ten years of 20 year prison sentence in Long Kesh, where he was one of the highest-ranking members of the IRA.
While in prison he corresponded with American woman Francie Broderick and when he was released in 1985 they married a week later.
After having two children together they were divorced, and Morrison later remarried to another American woman, Sandra Riley Swift.
He remained based in Missouri, where he worked as a nurse for the next 20 years.
Morrison who wrote in in 1993 how he no longer had any connection with the armed struggle in Ireland, added that should he and his family be forced to return, they would face "significant danger."
In the summer of 2000, Morrison was among the six Irish nationals who had their deportation proceedings terminated by US Attorney General Janet Reno in the wake of the Good Friday Accord.
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The move was welcomed by then-US President Bill Clinton, who said: "While in no way approving or condoning their past criminal acts, I believe that removing the threat of deportation for these individuals will contribute to the peace process in Northern Ireland."
However, he was not permitted to apply for a green card or US citizenship, and in June attended a scheduled check-in with US Citizenship and Immigration Services in St Louis.
After stories emerged of immigrants being arrested at such check-ins, Morrison's son Matt (37) told The Marshall Project: 'We were terrified that they were just going to take him right there.
Matt added: 'He has to live under that fear of somebody knocking on the door and dragging him out of the house, just like they did in Derry when he was young.
'I hate it. I am just worried about him. Until recently, I hadn't heard him cry about it.'
At the appointment, Morrison was photographed and was free to go but with his work authorisation set to expire in October, he boarded a one-way flight from Cleveland to Dublin on July 21, with his wife.
Leaving behind his grown children, his grandchildren, and the life he had built in the US, he told The Marshall Project: 'I've come full circle.
'I came here as an immigrant, and I am leaving as an immigrant, despite everything in between.
"The whole thing is a crazy, stressful situation.'
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