US police have arrested two Irish people after uncovering an alleged Irish immigrant smuggling ring operating through the Canadian border. The raids followed the arrest six months ago of a US immigration official on the Canadian border.
US police and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating payments made by a leading Irish businessman on behalf of an illegal immigrant. Several other people in the Irish community in New York are also being sought for questioning.
The raids on Thursday took place in Philadelphia and in the heavily Irish-populated neighbourhoods of Woodside, Queens and Woodlawn in the Bronx. In Woodlawn, immigration officers and police raided the apartment of a Co Cavan man who fled before they arrived.
In separate raids, a leading Irish businessman was questioned on charges of sending payments to a US immigration official on the Canadian border. A woman from Co Down who works in mid-Manhattan was arrested and charged with entering the US while banned under a previous immigration violation. She was charged and released on bail.
Both the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodside and the Aisling Irish Center in Woodlawn have been fielding calls from Irish people concerned about further raids. Sandra Boyle, deputy director of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodside, said that the raids were highly targeted and were not a general raid on the Irish community.
A spokesman for the Irish consulate in New York said a man arrested in Philadelphia and a woman arrested in New York were being given consular assistance.