The ruling was handed down by Judge William Peterson the day after Thanksgiving.
“The decision was against me,” a bitterly disappointed Brennan told the Irish Echo is a phone call Tuesday from the detention facility in Texas where he is being held.
“The judge ruled on terrorism charges, which the (U.S.) government wasn’t pushing so right now we’re not sure how to play this,” Brennan said, referring to his legal team which will now likely be expanded.
Brennan has thirty days in which to lodge an appeal.
“The judge ruled that my wife Joanna was suffering hardship as a result of my detention. That would have had me out of here. But then he ruled on the terrorism issue and that went against me,” Brennan said.
“She’s distraught,” Brennan said about his wife, who is an American citizen.
Brennan said he had not yet received a copy of the judge’s decision but had been told the main details by his lawyer.
“We’re not done yet,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, Brennan’s family in Northern Ireland has appealed to the U.S. government to allow Brennan to remain in the U.S where he has lived for the past 25 years.
The 55-year-old Brennan was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from Long Kesh prison in 1983.
He fled to the U.S. and was arrested a decade later living under a new identity in San Francisco.
Brennan was charged with illegally entering the U.S. However, his problems appeared to end in 2000 when the British government dropped extradition proceedings against him.
In January of this year, he was arrested in Texas for having an out of date work permit. Brennan had applied for a renewal but the document had not been sent to him by the time he was detained by border patrol agents.
Brennan has been held in a variety of facilities in Texas and New Mexico since his detention.
Brennan’s Belfast-based nephew, Colm Brennan, said that although the deportation decision had been “devastating” for his uncle, he had lost none of his fighting spirit.
“He will appeal the decision to a higher court, but is very concerned that Homeland Security will try to deport him before he has a chance to appeal,” said Brennan.
“The U.S. authorities know that P