Malachy McAllister: Facing Deportation Again

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14/3/2009 Malachy McAllister: Man from Northern Ireland facing deportation again Filed under: an príomhbhóthar BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE North Jersey.com Saturday, March 14, 2009 A reprieve from deportation expires next week for a Wallington man from Northern Ireland whose fight to stay in the United States generated private bills in Congress.   Malachy McAllister, 51, got a stay of deportation in late 2007 after U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., introduced a private relief bill to give him and his two grown children permanent U.S. residency.   The Department of Homeland Security has sought to deport the construction-business owner for his involvement in a 1981 wounding of a Royal Ulster constabulary officer in Northern Ireland.   The bill never made it out of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, and the stay is set to expire on Monday, said Olga Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Menendez.   But Alvarez said Menendez may reintroduce the bill and added that the senator’s office has asked DHS to defer deportation.   U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, a Fair Lawn Democrat who in the past has expressed support for McAllister and also introduced a private bill in the House, said in a written statement:   “I have been in regular touch with the Department of Homeland Security, and am working with them now. Based on those conversations with DHS, I believe Malachy McAllister is in no immediate threat of deportation.”   McAllister said that until a final decision is made on his case, “there’ll always be a dark cloud over you, where something can happen.”   But he said he is hopeful that, at least, a private bill will be reintroduced, giving him another stay of deportation.   “That’s another year of being off the radar,” he said.   McAllister, who served prison time in Northern Ireland for acting as a lookout in the shooting, has argued that it occurred during a civil war. At the time, he belonged to a paramilitary group opposing British rule in Northern Ireland. He has said he fears persecution if forced to return there.   E-mail: llor...@northjersey.com