Clinton backs McAllisters

Political and community support for the McAllisters has been bipartisan and considerable. It has ranged from the family's congressman, Rep. Steve Rothman, to New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and New York Rep. Peter King.

A loyalist death squad shot up the McAllisters' home in Belfast in 1988. No one was injured but police told Malachy McAllister that he and his family were on a loyalist hit list. They moved to Canada and in 1996 entered the U.S. and applied for political asylum in March 1997.

Senator Clinton also affirmed support for the stalled Northern Irish peace process, saying that a lot of work needed to be done.

"We have to build trust," Clinton said. "That's why the Cory report must be released in its entirety."

Before Clinton spoke, Geraldine Finucane, wife of murdered Northern Irish lawyer Pat Finucane, accepted an award on behalf of the Finucane family and the family of Rosemary Nelson. In accepting the award, Finucane called for pressure to be placed on the British government to release the Cory Report in full.

"The British government has always found a way to prevent it," she said. "Cory phoned us personally to give us his bottom line: a public inquiry."

But it was Malachy McAllister's speech that moved many of the Brehons in the audience.

"What threat do we pose to the security of this our adopted country?" McAllister asked. "Some here tonight would condemn me and ignore the facts. With respect, you have not walked in my shoes."

He then told a story of two teenage Catholic boys in Belfast in the 1970s who were stopped, searched and harassed by British soldiers.

The soldiers were challenged by a woman with a broom, who was quickly joined by other women with brooms.

One of the boys bolted during the distraction -- that boy, McAllister said, was "yours truly," while the woman with the broom was the late Joyce McCarten, later famous for the "teapot summit" when Hillary Clinton met McCarten during President Clinton's first visit to Ireland.

The McAllisters' claim to asylum in the U.S. hangs on the political-offense concept in law, where violent crimes have been committed by people motivated by political ideals in the face of extreme discrimination or attack.

Their case next goes to the Third Circuit Court on April 22, when a full argument on appeal will be presented by their lawyer, Eamonn Dornan.

Dornan said that he was delighted that Clinton had offered her support for the McAllisters. He said he was aware that previously, in private, Sen. Clinton's advisors had offered support for the McAllisters' case. But this public support for the family from the senator was a considerable boost.

During his speech McAllister also drew distinctions between "acts of terror" such as the Sept. 11 attacks and Bloody Sunday in Derry, and the reasons why people like himself in Ireland had become involved political violence.

"What threat do we pose to the security of this our adopted country?" McAllister asked. "Some here tonight would condemn me and ignore the facts. With respect, you have not walked in my shoes."

Also honored at the event at Rosie O'Grady's Manhattan Club was Stephen McCabe, Irish Parades Emergency Committee observer, and a legal observer at the trial of the three Irishmen who are in custody in Colombia since August 2001. McCabe accepted the Brehon Law Society's Man of the Year award.