Thread: Optimism over illegal Irish

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Comment: Optimism over illegal Irish

19 March 2006 By Niall O’Dowd
There was no question what the overwhelming issue facing Irish America this St Patrick’s Day was: the issue of legalising the 40,000 or so Irish illegal immigrants in the United States.

It has become the primary focus of communities from New York to Boston to San Francisco and from Philadelphia to Chicago. The recent successful action day on March 8 in Washington which attracted almost 3,000 Irish Americans is ample proof of that.

The 3,000 people who descended on Capitol Hill had one clear message. It was emblazoned on the t-shirts the thousands wore, which read: ‘‘LegalizetheIrish.org’’.

At times, Capitol Hill seemed a sea of green and white. Chants of ‘Ole Ole Ole’ echoed around the ballroom at the Holiday Inn on the Hill when Hillary Clinton made her appearance at the rally.

Along with Senator John McCain, Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator Charles Schumer, she was sending a strong message to her Irish base that she was there for them. Senator McCain told a staffer he felt ‘‘like a rock star’’ after the reception he got and immediately signed up to host an Irish town meeting in the Bronx on March 31.

The Capitol Hill rally was the culmination of a hectic three months for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), which was started in New York on December 9.

The organisation was apprehensive before that first meeting that Irish illegal immigrants would come out of the deep isolation into which they had disappeared. Strangely, politicians in Ireland were more on top of the issue than Irish American groups. The issue was deeply underground in America, but was surfacing in families back home. Now the ILIR is bringing it above ground in America.

It turned out that we need not have worried about attendance as the first meeting and all subsequent ones were overwhelmed with people. There were more than 1,000 in meetings in New York, Boston, San Francisco and New York again as well as 400 in Philadelphia.

More than 6,000 joined through the website. Veterans of the Morrison and Donnelly visa battles could not remember crowds like it during the thick of those fights.

The huge numbers attending meetings from coast to coast personified the clear signs of distress from a community much beleaguered since the impact of September 11, 2001 tightened immigration laws.

The biggest problem was driver’s licences. Now when your licence is up, you have to produce a valid social security number, which very few illegals have, to get a new one. Mothers are unable to drive their children to school. Some workers have to hire drivers to take them to work.

Now, too it has become impossible to travel home to Ireland and come back safely.

New technologies in place at ports and airports have begun to bite. Illegals are unable to visit sick parents, many Irish grandparents have never seen their grandchildren, and missed weddings, funerals and wakes are among the consequences.

Some have asked why the illegals cannot just return home to Ireland. The reasons are numerous.

Many are from remote areas of Ireland where the Celtic Tiger does not stalk. Others have made lives, families and careers in the US and would find it impossible to adjust.

Many have basic educational qualifications and are ill-fitted for the high tech vistas of Ireland.

Others just want to live their version of the American dream like millions before them.

Many are angry that the Irish in America are in this bind.

Irish immigrants have fought in every war, helped build every US city, educated millions of American children and practically invented politics in big cities as it is played now.

When it comes to seeking legalisation for Irish citizens, ILIR makes no apology for making clear the incredible contribution of the Irish or the fact that the Irish have been hard done by since a 1965 law changed everything on immigration.

Since that 1965 act, Irish emigrants have become an endangered species and have essentially been excluded from America.

The act was an attempt to remove the European bias from American immigration, but in the process, it went way too far in the opposite direction, making it difficult for citizens of old seed countries to emigrate legally.

In the mid-1980s and early 1990s,we saw the first manifestation of this as a flood of young Irish illegally entered America during an economic recession in Ireland.

Fortunately, the community was able to rustle up temporary solutions in the Morrison and Donnelly visa bills, but they were not long-term solutions.

Now the community is at the same point again, as another group of immigrants seeks legal status and it is clear that a long-term solution must be found if both the Irish in Ireland and those in America are not to keep facing this issue into the future.

The future of many Irish communities across the country, especially where immigrants have gathered, is at stake. It is hard to imagine anything more important this St Patrick’s season.

Many of the undocumented feel that it is time for Irish American organisations to stand up and be counted. Few, with the honourable exception of the GAA, have done so. In New York and Boston the GAA have ran hugely successful fund-raisers for ILIR.

Even though it is an issue that has only become apparent in the past few months, there is no question that it is the most important one facing the Irish American community since the question of the American role in the Irish peace process over a decade ago.

Back then, Irish America rose magnificently to the challenge and, in the process, played a huge role in bringing about an historic peace agreement in the North.

This year, a major helping hand came from the Irish government on the issue of helping Irish illegal immigrants, a refreshing change from 15 years ago when they were at pains to try and play down the issue of Irish citizens staying illegally in US.

This week, Bertie Ahern and Dermot Ahern spoke eloquently and often on the need for immigration change, and the Taoiseach made a point of raising the issue at his meeting with George W Bush.

The Irish community has joined together with the government to tackle this issue. It is still too soon to see the final shape of the bill that would legalise the Irish but there is a new sense of optimism because of the most recent events.

The ascent of the deep hill has begun.

Niall O’Dowd is publisher of the Irish Voice in New York.

So, if many aren't educated enough to work in Ireland....why are we even allowing them here? Welfare? Free this and that?

Originally Posted by moosetracks

So, if many aren't educated enough to work in Ireland....why are we even allowing them here? Welfare? Free this and that?

Exactly! I guess they thought that asking for legalization on St Patrick's Day would gain empathy for them.