http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateoco ... ci_3615878

Irish fight crackdown on illegals
Immigrants arrive on student visas but stay for work
Todd R. Brown, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

Although "everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day," the 3,000 to 4,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the Bay Area face many of the same hardships as any other migrant laborers during the other 364 days of the year.
"They're here to work, and they are hard workers," said Eoin (pronounced Owen) O'Neill, 43, owner of O'Neill's pub on B Street in San Mateo, where thousands of revelers were expected to attend its Friday night bash for St. Pat's. "They're no hindrance to anybody."

O'Neill, a Redwood Shores resident who has run his bar for eight years and plans to open a second location March 29 in San Francisco, came to the Bay Area from Dublin in 1992 on a work visa. He got his green card in 1995 and became a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland in 2001.

He said Irish illegals typically come to the states on student visas, wind up getting cash-paying jobs and stay after their visas expire. They work in construction or at restaurants and pubs, he said, even as a wave of immigrants move to Ireland towork in the high-tech, pharmaceutical and tourism industries in that country's booming economy.

"They call it the Celtic Tiger," O'Neill said, a play on the term "tiger economy" used to describe financially successful countries in Southeast Asia.

Like other undocumented workers, the estimated 50,000 Irish illegals in the United States don't contribute to the tax rolls; they simply live "off the grid." After 9/11, when attention was focused on immigration policy, many Irish illegals moved home of their own accord rather than risk deportation.

Bernie Ahern, Ireland's prime minister, failed to broker a deal this week with U.S. Sens. John McCain and Ted Kennedy that would have saved Irish illegals from U.S. exile. And immigration foes aren't waiting for everyone to just go home. The Border Protection and Illegal Immigration Control Act, which the House approved last year, makes it a felony to be an illegal immigrant or to offer aid to one and calls for deporting millions of Latino, Asian and other illegals. A less draconian measure is set to go before a Senate committee next week that would put illegals on a waiting list for legal status.

Irish groups are championing "Legalize the Irish" T-shirts and mobilizing to oppose the bills, and the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center in San Francisco is a key local resource to help Irish illegals to become legal residents. The agency's Web site says it provides immigration advice and visa-application help, as well as tax advice and help with applying a U.S. citizenship.

Genevieve Collantes, 25, the manager at O'Neill's, is a Canadian migrant whose Filipino parents met in Canada and moved to South San Francisco when her mother, a nurse, was recruited about 18 years ago to work at Mills-Peninsula Health Center.

Collantes, who now lives in San Mateo, drew a parallel between Irish and Filipino immigrants who wind up working at jobs with under-the-table pay.

"There are a lot of people who are here on student visas, and they need to make money," she said. "I guess I'm really lucky. It's easier if you're Canadian to get a green card. They always make fun of us, but it's not like 'You can't work.'"

Carrie Dowd, 26, a bartender at O'Neill's who hails from Sligo, Ireland, said most Irish immigrants to the U.S. wind up on the Eastern Seaboard rather than go another 3,000 miles across America.

"I know a lot of people from my hometown who are living on the East Coast and have no paperwork. A lot of them have jobs in bars," said Dowd, who also works in administration at Mills-Peninsula. "I got my work ethics from my father, I think. It's been a long time since I had less than two jobs."

O'Neill, who visits the old country twice a year, said the work ethic of the Irish is hardly a threat to America, and they could only benefit the country by gaining legal status. With that unmistakable Gaelic lilt in his voice, he said, "Surely they should be given the chance."


On the Web: Irish Immigration Pastoral Center: http://www.sfiipc.org


Staff writer Todd R. Brown can be reached at (650) 348-4473 or tbrown@sanmateocountytimes.com.