Over 60 friends of Francis Smyth, the Monaghan native who is still in prison after being detained by U.S. Border Patrol on September 30, came together at the Heritage Bar on McLean Avenue in Yonkers on Monday evening to discuss how they can help their friend.

Smyth, known to his friends as Freddie, is a very popular figure in the community and a major activist for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR).

He spent the weekend of September 29 and 30 at the Black River car rally in Harrisville, New York. On the Sunday, Smyth and his friend Paul Treanor, both from Monaghan, were waiting for a train back to New York in a station in Syracuse when U.S. Border Patrol agents approached them.

Treanor, who attended the meeting on Monday, explained their encounter. “They said to us, ‘You don’t look American, can we see identification?’”

Both men were taken into custody and brought to a nearby center where they were detained for hours before being transferred to Clinton Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Dannemora, New York. The pair were each given their own cells in solitary confinement.

Lieutenant Laurin of Clinton Correctional Facility told the Irish Voice on Tuesday that each new inmate goes into solitary until a mandatory examination for tuberculosis is carried out and the results come back.

“It can take anywhere between three to seven business days for this New York State mandatory classification to be completed,” explained Laurin. “Each prisoner goes into solitary and stays there until the process is complete.”

Treanor was released on bail on Wednesday but Smyth, who signed a visa waiver when he entered the country seven years ago, (a form which automatically takes away rights on an immigration hearing if the person remains in the U.S. beyond the allowed 90-days), will remain in prison until he is deported back to Ireland, a procedure which could take up to three months.

Smyth was released from solitary on Monday and according to Laurin, the man from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan is “not locked in anymore. He is now in the regular part of the jail in his own cell.”

Friends of Smyth, who went to visit him in prison on Saturday, said he is finding the whole process very difficult. Shane McAleer, who had Smith in his wedding party in 2004, explained the conditions that he was in to the Irish Voice.

“When we visited him on Saturday he was still in solitary confinement. He told us when he asked the guards for a fresh towel they told him to wash the one he had. He also had the same underwear on since the day he arrived.”

McAleer said that Smyth was so disoriented from being locked up in solitary that he asked them what day it was. Smyth was confined 23 hours to his cell and only allowed out for a shower and the use of a phone.

“He told us his experience was just like what you would see on TV and worse,” said McAleer, who is concerned for his friend’s well-being.

Smyth, who was told by the guards the he would be in prison until he was put on a plane, was clueless on Saturday about his release date.

“He just wants out of there. Initially, he told the guards he didn’t want to go back to Ireland, but on Saturday he just wanted out of prison,” said McAleer.

“It was very hard for us to leave him behind. We were gutted. Freddie is an out and out gentleman and to see him locked up like this is heartbreaking. It’s killing him too. He told us he didn’t want to see anyone else, including his two sisters, who are coming from Ireland.”

Orla Kelleher, executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center in Yonkers, told attendees at the meeting that Smyth’s case is not unusual.

“It is quite common for people in Fred’s situation to be detained for several weeks,” she said, explaining that the Irish Consulate has been working around the clock to try and get his deportation brought forward as much as possible. Kelleher said preliminary dates of October 15 or 16 have been set for Smyth’s deportation.

Phone numbers for various Irish and American congressional representatives, senators, organizations and politicians were given out at the meeting. Smyth’s friends made a promise to get on the phone immediately to plead with those in power to expedite his deportation and get him back to his family in Ireland.

Officials in the offices of New York Senator Charles Schumer and Congressmen Joe Crowley and Eliot Engel informed ILIR that they were in contact with Lou Cruz, the immigration officer in charge of Smyth’s case.

Cruz has assured Schumer’s office that Smyth will receive “the best attention possible.” Cruz also told Schumer’s office, which has been pushing hard for his removal since last week, that they hope to have him out by the middle of next week.

Both Congressmen Crowley and Engel’s office have been in contact with Cruz as well as senior officers in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and have made them aware of their interest in the case.

Cruz told all three politicians that the Irish Consulate has been extremely proactive on the case. He also said he was aware of the many calls which have been made on behalf of Smyth.

A representative of the Irish Consulate in New York told the Irish Voice on Tuesday that their offices were bombarded with calls from concerned friends of Smyth’s on Tuesday morning.

The consulate has been working on Smyth’s case since October 1 and will continue to do so until he is back in Ireland. Cruz also informed the consulate that it is highly likely Smyth will be deported in the middle of next week.

Vice Consul General Alan Farrelly, who spoke with Smyth on Tuesday, will visit him on Wednesday and explain what is going on.

Smyth will not be notified when he is being deported. U.S. Border Patrol will inform the U.S. Embassy in Ireland and they, in turn, will notify Smyth’s family what flight he will be on.

In the interim Smyth will remain in Clinton Correctional Facility until his deportation.