Belfast visit by US far-right figures raises questions over UK visa rules

Concerns have been raised about why members of a US “right-wing extremist” group who toured Belfast after the June riots were granted visas to visit the UK.

Enrique Tarrio and Barry Ramey, members of the ‘Proud Boys’, travelled to Northern Ireland and met with various right-wing, anti-Muslim and loyalist activists.

The Proud Boys are most known for their role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, where hundreds of Trump supporters attempted to stop Congress from certifying President Biden's 2020 election win.

Over 140 police officers were injured in the attack, with four having since died by suicide.
Tarrio was deemed “the ultimate leader” of the conspiracy, and Ramey played a "pivotal role in advancing the riot”, according to the judges in their respective cases. Both received lengthy prison sentences.

They were pardoned and released from prison, along with hundreds of others jailed for the attack, by President Trump upon his return to office in January 2025.

The Proud Boys have been described as “a right-wing nationalist extremist group” by the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee, and is designated as a “terrorist entity” by the Canadian government.

While in Northern Ireland, Tarrio and Ramey produced a short documentary about the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie and subsequent riots.

Framed as a “warning to America", the documentary also promotes the idea that Catholic and Protestant communities have put aside their differences to protest rising immigration.

The film features several interviews with people linked to right-wing and loyalist activism.
This included Clifford Peeples, who was jailed for ten years in 2001 for having two hand grenades and a pipe bomb in his car.

Others interviewees include Richard Inman, who is linked to Tommy Robinson, and Advance UK activist Sarah White, who shared a picture of her and Ramey, captioned “Celebrating being WHITE is absolutely fine.”

Tarrio told The Detail that while all of the people in his film were loyalists, he also spoke with people from republican backgrounds while in Belfast, but they did not want to appear on camera.

“Although they had a different political view on things, I think that they had the same concern. Maybe not as strong as some of the Protestants, but they did have a very strong opinion on what was going on,” he said.

Visas

A Belfast human rights organisation has raised concerns about why Tarrio and Ramey were given visas to visit the UK.

The Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) has questioned why the pair were granted ETAs, arguing that they could have been refused under existing rules.

These rules state that an ETA will be refused or revoked where a person has a significant criminal history or their "presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good".

“Grounds for exclusion include where an applicant has demonstrated ‘unacceptable behaviours’ including expressing views that ‘foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK’,” a CAJ spokesperson said.

“There are also broad discretionary powers available to the Home Secretary to exclude a person from the UK,” they added.

The Home Office has recently revoked a number of visas on such grounds, including left-wing commentator Hasan Piker and right-wing activist Valentina Gomez.

In an interview with The Detail, Tarrio said he was granted an ETA visa in November 2025, and visited the UK a number of times since then.

He said that his criminal convictions had been overturned last year, and he was therefore advised by a solicitor that he did not need to declare any criminal convictions when applying for an ETA.

“I've been pardoned and exonerated twice for the same crime,” he said.

Tarrio added that the UK security services would not have granted the visas if they felt he was a threat to the “public good”.

“I would assume that they know exactly who I am”, he said, “and if there was any problems, they would have declined it or declined me at the airport.”

“I feel like my group has been portrayed poorly by the mainstream media and independent outlets”, he added, stating that he denounced violence and attacks on police officers.

The Home Office declined to comment in relation to any visas granted to Tarrio and Ramey.