Malachy McAllister turned himself in to immigration authorities in New Jersey on Tuesday and was due on a flight to Ireland on Wednesday, RTE reported.

McAllister, now a 62-year-old grandfather, was jailed over two attacks by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) on British Crown Forces during the 1981 hunger strikes. He served seven years in prison in the North of Ireland and moved to the US after loyalists attacked his home in Belfast in 1988.

A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) confirmed his deportation, and accused him of “terrorism related crime”.

McAllister is originally from the Ormeau Road area in Belfast and has been seeking political asylum in the US for over 24 years.

His wife Bernadette passed away in the US and most of his children and grandchildren still live there.

A last-minute letter from 15 US senators urging President Trump to allow him to stay in the country was unsuccessful.

Prior to his deportation, Malachy said: "The truth is there is no rhyme nor reason why the Trump Administration has chosen to deport me after 24 years in America. In fact last November President Trump suspended my deportation and ordered the White House Chief of Staff Mike Mulvaney [now Special Envoy to the North of Ireland] to resolve my case."