By April Drew

IT is the wish of most undocumented Irish to spend Christmas at home in Ireland with their families, but for Paul and Jenny Ladd their only holiday wish is to remain in the U.S. The couple, living in Norwood, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, is facing deportation on December 21 for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As well as the house they own in Norwood, they also own a summer vacation home in New Hampshire. They decided to visit their New Hampshire home in August to relax and do some landscaping.

On a beautiful summer’s morning on Wednesday the 16th, they opted for breakfast in the village. This was an unfortunate decision because on the way they encountered a Department of Motor Vehicles commercial vehicle checkpoint.

The state trooper on duty pulled them over and routinely went through their truck with a fine toothcomb. Everything was to the trooper’s satisfaction until they asked Paul for his license.

“I had an American license for 15 years but it had expired, and being unable to renew it I gave her my Irish license,” said a distraught Paul.

This caused much consternation with the trooper, and when Paul explained the story she automatically realized his undocumented status so she asked him to step out of the car while she contacted border patrol.

Because border patrol was hours away, the Ladds were permitted to go back to their house to make a few phone calls. Paul immediately phoned Kieran Sullivan of the Boston Irish Immigration Center, who put him in contact with an immigration lawyer.

Paul, 36, and Jenny, 39, both from Co. Cork, have been living in Boston since 1995. They are in partnership together and run a successful maintenance and construction business and have employed up to 15 people in the past.

Paul, who applied for the Morrison visa program in the early 1990s but was unsuccessful, came to the U.S. when he was 19 on a B tourist visa. Jenny entered on the visa waiver program.

At the police station Paul explained about his B visa, but when they asked Jenny what visa she arrived to the U.S. on she informed them she wasn’t sure. “If Jenny had her passport on her and they realized that she had signed a visa waiver (which waives any rights she had and acknowledges that she had broken the law after the 90 days) she could have been automatically deported,” Paul says.

The couple were brought to the Canadian border for more questioning and eventually let go and given a court date for December 21.

“We are beside ourselves with worry,” Paul said. “We were very down there for a while and then we went to the immigration meeting in Boston last Wednesday and that lifted our spirits and gave us some sort of hope again.”

Paul is hoping when they appear in court on Thursday that the authorities won’t have all their information and the case will be postponed until the New Year.

“If this happens it will give us more time to prepare,” said Paul.

He is hoping that something will happen at the federal level on the immigration issue. Whatever ruling Paul will be given, he will have the right to appeal the decision for 120 days simply because he didn’t enter the U.S. on a visa waiver. Jenny won’t have the luxury of an appeal.

“There is a huge chance that Jenny will be deported on Thursday. We are hoping and praying that they will defer the case until the New Year so we can spend Christmas together,” Paul said.

They are already putting provisions in place to have their business looked after. The couple do not have any children but they do have a 145-pound Rottweiler, which they call Murphy.

“Luckily Murphy has dual citizenship so he can fly to Ireland at a moment’s notice,” laughs Paul.

“The support we have received is fantastic, but we are basically grasping at straws. Any little hope is good at this stage. Something has to change in Washington and that really is the only chance we have of maintaining our life that we love so much in Boston,” he said.

When Paul spoke to the Irish Voice from his home on Friday he was getting ready to go to a “maybe farewell” party, just in case they don’t get the chance to see their friends again.

Partners in life and work, Paul and Jenny Ladd, face a Christmas deportation on Thursday, December 21 at 9 a.m. in Boston.