St. Louisan’s Troubles Linger Despite Irish Peace

In July 2009, Matthew Morrison applied to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for permission to visit Northern Ireland. To be more accurate, he was seeking permission to be able to return to this country after leaving it.

He was required to pay a $305 processing fee. The government cashed his check on July 8, 2009.

He is still waiting for a response. What could be so confusing about his case?

Chester Moyer, field office director for the local office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is familiar with it. So are regular readers of this column.

Morrison grew up in Derry. He was Roman Catholic. In January 1972, he marched in a civil rights demonstration. British soldiers fired on the demonstrators, killing 13. The day became known as Bloody Sunday.

Morrison joined the Irish Republican Army, which was seeking to reunite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. In 1975, he was arrested for trying to shoot a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He was released after serving 10 years in Long Kesh prison.

He married an American woman with whom he had corresponded while in prison. He came here on a tourist visa and overstayed that visa. He paid taxes using a tax number the IRS issued him. Still, he was essentially underground.

In November 1991, he asked for permanent residency status. The request was denied, and deportation proceedings began.

It was a long process and often looked bleak. The IRA was considered a terrorist organization.

Actually, the IRA compared itself to the Spear of the Nation, the armed wing of the African National Congress. I can remember Gerald Kelly making that comparison. He was in St. Louis visiting Morrison. He said the IRA saw South Africa as a template for the future, a model of how to get from armed struggle to governance.

Kelly visited St. Louis in 1999. By then, the world had changed. The Good Friday Peace Accord had been signed a year earlier. The IRA had indeed gone into governance. In fact, Kelly, who had done time for a bombing in London, had been elected to the new Northern Assembly.

Meanwhile, as part of the peace process, the U.S. had agreed to stop the deportation proceedings against Morrison and five other former members of the IRA.

Morrison was allowed to visit Northern Ireland in 2000. That is, he was given permission to return.

Nine years later, he applied for permission again. What had he done in those nine years? He’s a registered nurse. For most of the nine years, he has worked with children with mental problems.

In short, he has worked, paid taxes and avoided trouble.

So why hasn’t he been able to get an answer on his request to travel?

By the way, the request was made correctly. Morrison has a lawyer, Suzanne Brown. She has a thick file on the case. She has written letters to Moyer and to people in Washington.

She told me she cannot get an answer. Not a yes, not a no, and certainly not an explanation for what is now a 23-month wait.

I have dealt with Moyer over the years. I called him and left a message. The next day, I received a call from Tim Counts, a spokesperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I asked why Morrison can’t get an answer.

Counts said he could not comment on a specific case. He cited concerns for privacy.

Privacy? Morrison is very open about his past. He gives lectures about Northern Ireland. He was recently on a panel at Case Western Reserve University’s law school. He had his lawyer give me his records. He is not concerned about his privacy.

“Our policy remains that we don’t discuss individual cases,” Counts said.

Generally speaking then, if a person makes a request in July 2009, how long should he have to wait for a response?

“We process applications as expeditiously as possible, but each application is adjudicated on its individual merits and sometimes an application takes significantly longer than typical,” Counts said.

Like indefinitely?

“Don’t finish my thoughts,” Counts said.

To the people of Northern Ireland, the Troubles are over. A peace accord has been signed. Protestants and Catholics share power.

But for us, the war never ends. The past always trumps the present.

“What kind of message are we sending to the people of the Middle East when we won’t accept peace?” I asked Counts.

“I can’t speculate on that,” he said.

I can.

By iauc in News on June 12, 2011