IRISH Americans who support a united Ireland and other Republican causes fear a controversial extradition treaty between the U.S. and the U.K. could lead to them being shipped off to Britain. 

The Irish American Unity Conference and others have been trying to shed light on the controversial treaty, which still must be approved by the Senate. 

An Internet petition on the potential dangers of the extradition treaty will be sent to New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. 

Now, one New York City officer for the Ancient Order of Hibernians fears work he did on behalf of Joe Doherty might come back to haunt him. 

“If they get their foot in the door with something like this, then where is our freedom?” Bill Reilly, a Staten Island AOHer, was quoted as saying recently. 

Reilly helped fight the 1992 deportation of Doherty from New York to Northern Ireland. Doherty escaped from a Belfast jail while serving a life sentence for murder. 

Advocates and some legal scholars fear the extradition treaty might erode or do away with the special designation for crimes deemed political. 

Any crime with a sentence of a year or more in prison could lead to extradition. Attorney General John Ashcroft and British Home Secretary David Blunkett signed the treaty in late March. It must be ratified by the Senate. 

Some say the treaty gives too much leeway to the British government, and can lead to very broad interpretations of “aiding” terrorist groups. 

“Although the new treaty pays lip service to the political offense exception, it removes that essential protection for those seeking refuge on our shores. Worse, it subjects U.S. citizens to extradition based solely on unproven allegations by the British government,” says Professor Francis Boyle at the University of Illinois Law School.

 “Any American active in Irish affairs faces potential detention, and transportation to the United Kingdom, without any proof of guilt, and without judicial review. Never before in its history has the United States government subjected the liberty of its citizens to the whims of a foreign government.” 

Boyle, some may recall, led a charge earlier this year to impeach President Bush.