According to Milwaukee-based Sean Maguire, a leading member of the Brennan support group, papers issues by the Irish government that would have facilitated Brennan’s transfer from the U.s. to Ireland had now expired.
They (Department of Homeland Security) would have to apply to the Irish government for new papers so we would expect at least as couple of weeks notice before anything happens,” said Maguire.
Maguire said that Brennan’s attorney and his supporters were now contemplating a new submission requesting bail for Brennan. Bail for the Belfast native has been previously supported by several members of Congress.
“We don’t know how long this is going to take,” said Maguire of the possible bail bid.
Just over a month ago Brennan was facing imminent deportation, the date fixed for his removal from the U.S. being May 18.
However, in a last ditch bid to delay Brennan’s expulsion, and separation from his American wife, Joanna Volz, Brennan’s legal team requested a delay in deportation in a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano.
Brennan had appealed against a court order of deportation dating back to last year, but it was turned down.
Brennan has been hoping that enough political support will weigh in behind him to allow him to stay in the country he has called home since the 1980s.
The Brennan campaign is hoping that Secretary Napolitano will exercise her authority under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act and over-ride a decision of the Immigration Board of Appeal that went against Brennan.
A federal immigration judge ruled last November that Maze escapee Brennan should be deported.
Brennan, 56, was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from Long Kesh prison in 1983. He fled to the U.S. and lived for a time under a false name in the San Francisco area.
In recent years he has lived openly under his own name. The British government ended efforts to secure his extradition in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, which Brennan supports.
On January 27 last year, while driving with Joanna Volz, his wife of over 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.