January 15, 2004 McAllisters Get a Break
Court grants motion for Removal stay... (report by Ray O'Hanlon)

The McAllister family's American dream was given life support by a federal appeals court this week. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted motions for stays of removal filed on behalf of Malachy, his wife Bernadette, and three of the couple's four children.

The decision will give the Belfast family legal breathing space that could last for "many, many" months, said the family's New York-based attorney Eamonn Dornan. "This was a better decision than we expected," Dornan said Tuesday only minutes after informed by the court that it had granted a reprieve against deportation to Malachy McAllister and had put on hold orders for voluntary departure against Bernadette and three of the children.