http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=17740

A rising tide

Immigration campaign flows from city to city
By Ray O'Hanlon
rohanlon@irishecho.com

The campaign to secure an American life for tens of thousands of undocumented Irish is this week connecting the Irish across the United States in a way that hasn't been seen for years.

Meetings have been held, are being held, and are being planned from Boston to San Francisco and from Chicago to New York.

Hundreds gathered in a Philadelphia hotel last Friday evening to hear details of the reform campaign's next moves.

Hundreds are expected to come together in Boston this Thursday night for a rally in Dorchester, a part of town that has witnessed the arrival of successive generations of new Irish.

Meanwhile, the reform debate is now expected to get underway in earnest on Capitol Hill in early March with the added possibility that the full Senate will consider the various immigration bills before Congress by the end of that month.

And last week, during his State of the Union speech, President Bush presented his strongest appeal yet for legislation that will offer some degree of hope to the illegal and undocumented.

For reports on the latest developments as well as comprehensive coverage from Philadelphia and Chicago, see Pages 3, 5 and 10.

This story appeared in the issue of February 8 - 14, 2006