OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Brennan battles as hearing looms

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

Brennan’s case was in a court a few days ago for a status hearing. “It went pretty well,” the Belfast native told the Echo in a phone interview.
But it’s the two day hearing set for November 12 and 13 that stands to be decisive in a case that stretches back to January when Brennan was first arrested as a result of expired working papers.
“There will be an expert witness coming from Belfast and there will be videos to show the court aspects of life back in Northern Ireland,” said Brennan.
In the meantime, however, it is aspects of daily life at the Willacy County Processing Center in Raymondville that are most on Brennan’s mind.
“Conditions here have deteriorated,” Brennan said in the interview which was made possible by the fact that he can use a phone card to make calls.
One recent change was the decision by facility officials to remove mail boxes from inmate dormitories that were used for mail, to apply for sick call visits with medical staff and, ironically, to file complaints about conditions in the facility.
“It was claimed we were interfering with them,” said Brennan.
A veteran of battles for status and better conditions from his days in Long Kesh, Brennan is not the type to stay silent over what he sees as even small and petty injustices.
He said he had suggested that the boxes be relocated to an area behind the guards’ station but this had not happened. And while there used be 20 boxes, there were now only six.
Detainees, said Brennan, had been entitled to some letters for which the postage was covered. This was no longer the case and now detainees had to prove indigence or pay postage that varied with the number of pages in the letter.
“It’s a big hassle for us,” he said.
“And they have stopped newspapers and magazines which I have had since January. I have complained and they have come back with lame excuses.”
Brennan said that he understood there was case law protecting the access of prisoners to publications, but that it applied to convicted inmates.
“We’re only detainees,” he said.
Brennan said that the quality of food had also deteriorated recently.
“We can augment our diet by buying from the commissary but it’s mostly junk,” he said.
Meanwhile, at next week’s hearing a judge will hear testimony with regard to Brennan’s adjustment of status petition, his political asylum plea and his application for a green card.
Brennan’s bid for at least bail has been unsuccessful since he was detained, this despite support from the Ancient Order of Hibernians and three U.S. congressmen who sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff urging release on bond pending resolution of deportation proceedings.
Brennan was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped Northern Ireland’s Maze prison in September 1983. He entered the U.S. in 1984 and lived under an alias until arrested by the FBI in Berkeley, California in 1993. He was twice bailed and complied with the conditions of release.
Two years after the 1998 Good Friday agreement, the British government abandoned its extradition case against Brennan who had been working as a carpenter in the San Francisco Bay area.
On January 27 last, while driving with Joanna Volz, his American wife of 20 years to visit friends in Texas, Brennan was detained at an immigration checkpoint because his U.S.-issued work permit had expired. While he had applied to renew the document, authorities had not sent it to him.
For nearly six months Brennan was held at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, on the Texas Gulf Coast. A day before Hurricane Dolly hit on July 23, he and hundreds of other immigrant detainees were evacuated to a prison in New Mexico. Brennan was later sent back to Texas.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese