Unsafe Haven: The United States, the IRA and Political Prisoners - Softcover

McElrath, Karen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745313175 ISBN 13: 9780745313177

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2000

Synopsis

Irish political prisoners have sought and found refuge in the United States since the 1800s. In 1986 however, US government policy changed, in part as a reward for Britain's support in the US attack on Libya. The "tools of exclusion" were subtly and not-so-subtly politicized, as ways were found to deport - or in other ways criminalize - potentially embarrassing Irish activists. In this controversial book, Karen McElrath examines the problematic history of Irish political prisoners in the US. Drawing on original research interviews with prisoners, their families and their supporters in the US, she looks at how the rule of law can change, for entirely political reasons, and considers the impact of those changes. She also examines the use of specific sanctions - deportation, extradition, prosecution - and shifting priorities in US immigration policies, which brought them into line with changing political (and diplomatic) allegiances. In this account of a complex and much-contested issue, McElrath examines the struggles over deportation and extradition within the context of Anglo-US relations.

About this title

About the Author:

Karen McElrath lectures in Sociology and Social Policy at The Queen's University of Belfast. She is the co-editor of The American Drug Scene (OUP, 1998), and has written widely on criminology, criminal justice, law and drug use.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0745313175
• ISBN 13: 9780745313177
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192