Ciaran Ferry deported

Irish republican Ciaran Ferry has been deported to Ireland in a
low-key end to his incarceration by US authorities who refused
him residency status.

Mr Ferry, a former IRA prisoner released early under the terms
of the Good Friday Agreement, has an American wife and young
daughter.

Originally from West Belfast, he was arrested and detained for
allegedly lying about his past in the IRA on an application
form.

Now back in Ireland after almost two years behind bars in the
U.S., Mr Ferry is considering new grounds for appeal.

Earlier this year, a US court backed claims by the US Homeland
Security Department that he had commited acts of "moral
turpitude" and ordered him deported.

Ferry's deportation was shambolic as the Department of Homeland
Security, refusing him permission to fly, removed him from a
plane which he had been placed on by members of the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A shouting match ensued in
the airport terminal between duelling groups of federal
officials, and a wry Ferry was forced to spend a final night in
a US jail.

"It was bureaucratic nonsense," he said. "There was a lot of
what the f... is going on here."

Ferry's departure from the U.S. followed his agreeing to give up
his 'habeas corpus' bid to allow him to return to his wife
Heaven and daughter Fiona in Colorado.

The move caught activists and supporters by surprise. Speaking
from Belfast, Ferry told reporters that he was glad to be out of
prison, but sad that he was thousands of miles away from his
wife and child.

"We had our wee plan, so we were fairly psychologically prepared
for the separation," he said. "Our major concern was that Fiona
would have a nice Christmas."