Irish Nationalist Speaks On Fight Against Deportation From US

[Brian Hauk]

Irish Nationalist Speaks On Fight Against Deportation From United States
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from the Militant, vol.62/no.11 March 23, 1998

BY JEFF POWERS
SEATTLE - "The first time I was arrested was when I was
nine years old," Noel Cassidy told more than 30 people who
attended the Militant Labor Forum here February 9. "I came
from an Irish republican family and we were selling lilies to
commemorate the Easter rising in 1916. We were charged with
not having a permit."
Cassidy's talk was part of a four-day tour of Seattle and
Portland, Oregon, where he had come to get support for his
fight with the United States Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS). Cassidy, along with nine other Irish nationals
who support the republican movement, face deportation by the
U.S. government.
In 1978 Cassidy was arrested and spent 23 months in Long
Kesh prison convicted for possession of a document. "A piece
of paper with names and addresses of members of the British
army was allegedly found in my coat pocket by British
intelligence," Cassidy said. "It was not in my handwriting and
it was not there when I was first arrested even though my
lining was cut out.
"It was a laughable charge and a laughable sentence,"
Cassidy explained. Several times Cassidy was offered his
freedom if only he would plead guilty but he would not do it.
"I was innocent," he said.
Cassidy went "on the blanket" when he arrived at Long
Kesh. This campaign, organized by Irish republicans, was aimed
at rebutting the British government's attempts to criminalize
the struggle for Irish freedom by changing the status of
republican inmates from political to criminal status. As part
of this protest they refused to wear prison uniforms.
"I lived 23 months of my life completely naked. I didn't
wash. I didn't shave. I didn't comb my hair. I urinated on the
floor. There was defecation smeared on the walls," Cassidy
said. He explained that the only way to go to a toilet was to
leave your cell. Any blanketman who did this was "severely
beaten by the guards and subjected to cavity search of his
rectum," Cassidy said.
To press for their demands the Irish republicans organized
a hunger strike. "Ten people, including Bobby Sands, died
during the hunger strike," Cassidy said.
In 1982, while the hunger strike was still going on,
Cassidy was released from prison and he toured the United
States to build support for the Irish prisoners' demands.
In the 1980s, Cassidy returned to Ireland but was unable
to find work because of his politics. He immigrated here and
is currently married to a U.S. citizen. He has a child here by
a previous marriage.
In 1991, Cassidy was ordered deported by an immigration
judge. "The British government put pressure on the U.S. There
was a false Interpol report claiming I was in the IRA [Irish
Republican Army]," Cassidy said.
In August of this year Cassidy will be back before an
immigration judge fighting his conviction of illegal entry
into the country.
"I believe that all ten of us facing deportation are being
held hostage to the peace process in Ireland," Cassidy
explained. "This is something we have no control over. If the
negotiations do not go well, we will suffer."
Cassidy lives near Cleveland, Ohio, where he works as a
painter and decorator. He also teaches Irish-language classes
at a neighborhood community center, a local high school, and
Oberlin College. "In some ways this is blessing," Cassidy
said. "For the first time in years I have been able to go out
and do what I like to do best - speak about politics."
From Seattle, Cassidy planned to go to Chicago and San
Francisco. Supporters of his case can send donations to:
Friends of Noel Cassidy, c/o Jack Kilroy, 2630 Joseph street,
Avon, OH 44011.
Over $200 was raised for his defense at the Seattle
Militant Labor Forum.

Jeff Powers is a member of the United Transportation Union
Local 845.

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