Irish in US hoping for visa solution

FEARFUL Irish emigrants working illegally in the US hope a new visa deal can be hammered out to let them stay.

The US government is expected to introduce new immigration laws this year and today, the US Senate begins debating the emotive issue.

An estimated 40,000 “undocumented” Irish are among the near 12 million people living illegally in the US.

RTÉ radio listeners yesterday got a sense of the anguish experienced daily by immigrants without papers.

Cathy emigrated 11 years ago and married another undocumented Irish person in the US. Their two children were born there.

Tearfully, she described being worried about not being able to visit her ill father.

“We just can’t go back and forth and that’s just it,” she sobbed. “And that’s my biggest fear - that something will happen and we can’t go home.”

The Government is backing a Bill introduced by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy that would address the immigration issue.

Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern will lobby US legislators when he attends St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington.

Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs will travel over for the Senate debate later this month.

Fine Gael emigrant affairs spokesman Paul Connaughton said yesterday: “An all-out diplomatic and political onslaught should now be made with all strands of opinion in the US to ensure that the Kennedy-McCain proposals are implemented as they provide the best possible opportunity for our undocumented Irish in America.”

Under current US law, it is almost impossible for an Irish person to legally emigrate to America, according to the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR).

Senators McCain and Kennedy propose an illegal alien would come forward, pay a US$1,000 (€831) fine and go through a background check before being eligible for a work permit.

Former US Congressman Bruce Morrison - who campaigned successfully for visas to allow thousands of Irish people into America in the 1980s - said yesterday he expected a compromise would be reached.

At this stage, he said, the immigration problem was not confined to the Irish.

ILIR said recent proposals that would criminalise the undocumented Irish already there, would effectively end Irish immigration to the US.

ILIR has been set up to lobby the US government on behalf of the estimated 40,000 undocumented Irish in the US.

“The Irish contribution, both culturally and economically, to the US has been enormous,” said ILIR.

“We recognise the need for tighter security in this post-9/11 world but we also believe that we have to help the 40,000 Irish toiling in the shadows as construction workers, nannies and waitresses. Their presence is not a threat to the United States. The undocumented Irish just want to have the same chance offered to the Irish throughout the years.”