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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Irish Leader Pleads For Action On Immigration Reform During Visit To Biden’s House

    Irish Leader Pleads For Action On Immigration Reform During Visit To Biden’s House

    Taoiseach Enda Kenny said undocumented Irish immigrants have “suffered disproportionately” due to the lack of reform.
    posted on March 14, 2014 at 11:40am EDT

    Evan McMorris-Santoro BuzzFeed Staff


    Gary Cameron / Reuters


    Ivan Alvarado / Reuters / Reuters

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Biden welcomed Taoiseach Enda Kenny, to the Vice President’s mansion Friday for an annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.

    The two men took the opportunity to praise the strong relations between the two nations and make a joint plea for immigration reform.

    “It is the frustration of people who look at elected representatives who say, ‘why can’t you do these things?,’” Kenny said.

    Irish-Americans are increasingly getting involved in the immigration reform debate, pressing elected leaders to take action on comprehensive reform that would include a pathway to legal status for the thousands of Irish in America unable to travel due to fears of deportation. Kenny joined their cry during his remarks at the Vice President’s house.

    “We’ve got 50,000 here in America, undocumented. And what we want is a process of legalization, where they pay their taxes, pay their way, raise their families, travel home and travel back,” he said. “To do that, in terms of the numbers that are in this country, is what’s going to make America. Is what’s going to regenerate it from generation to generation.”

    Kenny praised the push for reform coming out of the White House and some quarters of Congress.

    “I know that people who are currently serving on the Hill from both sides want to arrive at a position [on immigration]” he said. “I wish you every luck in that, and we will support any measure that is taken, Mr. Vice President, to see that happens.”

    Biden praised Kenny for his past advocacy for immigration reform and issued his own fresh call for action on the issue through a story about a conversation he had with the former president of Singapore. The Asian leader told Biden that China was “looking for the black box” in America that “allows America to be the only country in the world that is able to renew itself generation after generation.”

    Biden said a strong immigration system was a key to that success.

    “I think I can tell him what’s in the black box. I said two things. One, every child, whether naturalized or naturally born here in America, is raised with the notion that you’re rewarded, not penalized, for questioning orthodoxy,” Biden said. “I said, ‘the second thing you’re going to find in the box, Mr. President, is a constant wave, a significant wave of immigration that never stops. Because that’s what revitalizes this country.’”

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/ir...-reform-during




  2. #2
    working4change
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    Illegal Irish in America 'jubilant' as path opens to citizenship

    Bette Brown – Published 28 June 2013 07:51 AM
    THOUSANDS of illegal Irish across the United States will be jubilant at the passage by the US Senate of a sweeping immigration reform bill that holds out the promise of a path to citizenship.


    But they also know that an even tougher battle now starts to secure the legislation in the House of Representatives.

    The bill would amount to the most sweeping changes in decades to US immigration laws and is a major victory.

    But even in the final hours as the clock ticked down to the vote, Irish American leaders were working feverishly to win changes in a part of the bill that covers the J1 non-immigration summer work visa used by thousands of Irish students each year.

    The Irish lobby won a victory by securing a reduction in a proposed 500 dollar fee to 100 dollars. It was not entirely clear that other concerns had been ironed out but the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said last night he was happy that the provisions in the bill “will allow the continuation of the J1 programme.”

    Welcoming the Senate action, he said: “This is a very positive development that takes us another step closer towards addressing the problems faced by undocumented Irish emigrants in the US and allowing them to emerge from the shadows.” In a reference to the J1 visa, he added: “I am particularly pleased that the bill includes provisions that will allow for continuation of the summer J1 visa programme that has meant so much to successive generations of young Irish people.”

    There were dramatic scenes in the Senate as the vote neared. Spectators in galleries that overlook the Senate floor watched expectantly as senators voted one by one from their desks. Some onlookers erupted in chants of "Yes, we can" after Vice President Joe Biden announced the vote result.

    In the final hours of debate, members the group that drafted the measure, frequently spoke in personal terms while extolling the bill's virtues, rebutting its critics - and appealing for passage the bill.

    In the Senate, at least, the developments marked an end to years of gridlock on immigration. The shift began taking shape quickly after the 2012 presidential election, when Republican leaders concluded the party must show a more welcoming face to Hispanic voters who had given Obama more than 70 percent of their votes. This was the new demographic that changed the political landscape and made it in everyone’s interest to pass the bill.

    The bill offers a 13-year path to citizenship to as many as 11 million illegal immigrants, over 55,000 of whom are Irish.

    The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner, has already said he expects the House to vote on its own version of the immigration bill before the end of August. But non-one expects this to be an easy battle, least of all the Irish. But for the moment they have much to celebrate.


    http://www.independent.ie/world-news...-29379694.html

  3. #3
    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
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    Every non-American group seems to have a sob story re why they should be permitted to stay here, even tho they're illegal. It's a disguting indicator of just how far we've fallen from putting our own people first. If we had such a policy, the sob story folks would keep their mouths shut.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vistalad View Post
    Every non-American group seems to have a sob story re why they should be permitted to stay here, even tho they're illegal. It's a disguting indicator of just how far we've fallen from putting our own people first. If we had such a policy, the sob story folks would keep their mouths shut.
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