Irish woman with green card held at Tacoma ICE center, questioned about decades-old drug conviction

An Irish woman has been taken into custody at the ICE detention center in Tacoma, according to federal records and a GoFundMe by her sister.

Cliona Ward, 53, has a green card and has lived the last 30 years in Santa Cruz, California, according to her sister Orla Holladay, who posted about Ward’s ordeal on GoFundMe.

Holladay wrote that her sister had escorted their stepmother to Ireland to visit their ailing father. When she returned, she was detained at the San Francisco airport and asked questions about a drug conviction from 2007.

California court records show that Ward pleaded guilty to simple possession of methamphetamine in 2007.

Holladay told NBC Bay Area that agents released her to collect records to prove the drug conviction had been expunged.

But at an administrative meeting to present documents, Ward was detained, and later sent to the ICE detention center in Tacoma.

“When she got off the plane in Tacoma, officers handcuffed, shackled her, and escorted her through the airport like a hardened criminal,” Holladay wrote. “She was mortified, shamed, and demoralized.”

Ward has described the food as “gross” to her sister, but said that she is connecting with other women inside.

“She shared that although she can't speak with the majority of the women in there, because most don't speak English, they have been giving each other support and there are lots of tears and hugs between the women,” Holladay wrote.

Ward has a son who is chronically ill, Holladay wrote, saying that he “depends on her for caretaking.”

“Cliona is a very private and gentle person who wants nothing more than to return to her quiet life,” Holladay wrote.

Traveling to and from the U.S. has become riskier for green card holders with past infractions, attorney Benjamin Osorio told NPR. Osorio represented Lewelyn Dixon, a University of Washington employee who was detained by ICE and sent to the Tacoma detention center.

"It's maximum enforcement these days," Osorio told NPR.

A court date for Cliona Ward is scheduled for May 7.