A convicted terrorist and former leader of the Irish Republican Army in North America may finally be facing deportation from the United States.
Gabriel Megahey, 82, who has lived in New York for decades, received a letter on June 20 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notifying him that his “parole” was being terminated. This comes nearly 30 years after he and other IRA members were granted permission to remain in the country, according to a report by Our Town NY, which first revealed the deportation move.
The one-page letter, shared by Megahey with the Irish Echo, warns: “Do not attempt to unlawfully remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”
Gabriel Megahey was convicted in 1983 for conspiring to purchase weapons intended to shoot down British helicopters.
The Belfast native was convicted in 1983 in Brooklyn Federal Court for conspiring to buy missiles intended to shoot down British helicopters during the violent clashes in Northern Ireland known as “The Troubles.” At the time, federal authorities considered Megahey to be the “officer commanding (OC) of America and Canada” for the IRA, a role he confirmed in an interview with PBS’s Frontline.
Gabriel Megahey, the married father of six, served five years in federal prison for conspiracy and arms shipments. Known by the nickname “Skinny Legs,” he was convicted alongside three others. At the time, then U.S. Attorney John Dearie described Megahey as “the most culpable of these defendants,” labeling the group “a network of men who sought to use this country as a base of terrorist activities,” according to reports.
At his sentencing hearing, Megahey — who first settled in Jackson Heights, Queens, in 1975 — insisted, “No one wants peace more than us.”
Released from prison in 1988, Megahey was never deported. Instead, he and four other IRA members were allowed to remain in the U.S. as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the historic 1998 accords that ended decades of violence in Ireland between those who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom and those who didn’t.
Now a grandfather of 14 and great-grandfather of five, Megahey moved to Delaware in 2019. He is reeling after the Department of Homeland Security warned he would face fines and criminal prosecution if he remains in the United States.
Now 82, Megahey faces deportation decades after serving his sentence.
“DHS is terminating your parole,” reads the one-page letter Megahey shared with the Irish Echo. “Do not attempt to unlawfully remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”
Megahey, who depends on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to cover costly medication for a heart condition, also faces the potential loss of these vital benefits.
“It would cost me $4,000 to $5,000 a month to pay for my medication on my own,” Megahey told Straus News. “I can’t afford that. I’ll have to go home.”
Both DHS and Megahey declined to comment to The Post, but the Irish native told Our Town NY he has no regrets.
“Not a one. I’d do it all again. But I wouldn’t get caught next time.”
