Thread: 'Illegal Irish' Campaign For Immigration Reform

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_076021919.html

Mar 16, 2006 11:16 pm US/Pacific

'Illegal Irish' Campaign For Immigration Reform

Allen Martin
Reporting


(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO More than 600,000 illegal immigrants living in the U.S. are from Canada and Europe, and 50,000 of them are from Ireland. Many of those illegal Irish immigrants are in the Bay Area and are taking a very public stand to fight to stay in the U.S.

In the early 20th century, millions of Irish left the Emerald Isle and immigrated to the U.S., many settling in New York, Boston and San Francisco.

An estimated 30,000 people born in Ireland now live in the Bay Area -- 3,000 of them illegally, having come here with work, school or vacation visas that have long since expired.

At San Francisco's The Irish Castle gift shop, Orla O'Malley Daly says for years she was here illegally until getting her visa in a lottery. It's a freedom, she says, from feeling trapped.

"They can't go home if they have a baby, even if they're married to another Irish person or married to an American," O'Malley Daly said. "Until they get papers, they can't leave America. It's a risk. It would be fantastic if they got their visas to be honest. It really would."

"Everybody wants security, wants border security, wants to know this country is safe," said Irish Immigration Pastoral Center Director Celine Kennelly. "But there's a right way and a wrong way to do it."

Kennelly came to San Francisco on vacation six years ago. Now she has a green card. She got lucky when her employer sponsored her.

Since 1991, there has not been a way for immigrants to be granted the right to stay in the U.S., legally.

But the Federation for Immigration Reform says all illegal immigrants are simply breaking the law.

"What we're saying is the law needs to be applied," said Rick Oltman of the Federation for Immigration Reform. "The law needs to be followed and that means the law for everyone, not just the illegal alien Mexicans but people who are here illegally from Europe and from around the world."

In Washington, thousands of Irish recently demonstrated against the Border Protection and Illegal Immigration Control Act passed by the House of Representatives. It would, among other things, call for deporting the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

"You know, they've got a good border security idea. That's fine, but it has to be matched with a path for earned citizenship. It's not one or the other, it's both," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York.

The House immigration bill has little support, so the Senate has come up with this compromise: allow 400,000 foreign workers a year into the U.S., and the millions of illegals already here could get on the waiting list for legal status if they pay a fine and meet other requirements.

The illegal Irish lobby even has a web site. Doesn't Ted and Hillary look great holding shirts endorsing lawbreakers.

http://www.irishlobbyusa.org/