Thread: US Irish Illegal Alien Lobby Hails Guitierrez Amnesty Bill

Reform bill in the coming weeks

By Irish Echo Staff
letters@irishecho.com

September 23, 2009 Congressman Luis Gutierrez is to introduce an immigration reform bill in the House of Representatives sometime in the next few weeks.

The announcement was immediately welcomed by Sheila Gleeson, executive director of the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers.

"The estimated 50,000 Irish immigrants, who followed in the footsteps of their families, friends and neighbors across the Atlantic, have been living in the shadows for too long" said Boston-based Gleeson.

"It is time to fix our immigration system to allow contributing, taxpaying immigrants an opportunity to contribute fully to the country that they have come to call home," she said.

The CIIC, in its statement, commended the Illinois Democrat's commitment to taking decisive action to break through the years-long stalemate on Capitol Hill.

"We encourage all of our representatives to step up to the plate in support of immigrants who contribute so much to our communities and our economy. We expect our elected representatives to engage in a vigorous, but civil, discourse and to work to develop a caring and compassionate solution to the crisis of 12 million immigrants living outside of the mainstream of our society, the statement added.

"The acrimony of the healthcare debate and scapegoating of immigrants has underscored the need for a comprehensive immigration solution. There is little disagreement that our system is broken, there is wide acknowledgement that deporting millions of immigrants is neither practical nor cost effective; we need a smart, just and sensible solution from our political leaders," the statement concluded.

Founded in 1996, the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers is a national umbrella organization of Irish Immigrant advice centers throughout the United States.

Meanwhile, a cautionary note was added over the weekend by President Obama. Speaking on one of the string of Sunday morning political talk shows on which he appeared, Obama warned that it was relatively easy to have a reform bill introduced in Congress but far harder to get one passed.


This story appeared in the issue of September 23-29, 2009

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http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=19661

The Irish immigrants that came here earlier came legally for the most part. These folks today come on a visitor visa and never leave. And why would they be living in the shadows if they were legal?