Irish anger rises as House and Senate prepare to battle over bill

THERE was a palpable sense of anger in Long Island’s Irish Centre on Saturday night when Kerry woman Mary Brennan took the stage.

Fighting back tears, her voice faltering, she told the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) rally that she couldn’t go back to Ireland for her brother’s funeral last week.

Her brother Trevor, 23, had been killed along with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Eileen, in a car crash in Ballyduff near Listowel.

Her mother warned Mary not to go back to Ireland because she might not be able to return to the US.

An illegal immigrant for 15 years, Mary is well-known in the Irish community in New York as an ILIR spokeswoman.

“I remember saying that I hoped nobody would have any tragedy before we could get legalisation for the immigrants. I never thought it would happen in my family,” she said.

Calls from supporters have been flooding into her New York home and a special memorial mass was held in the Bronx.

Presidential candidate John McCain also called her to tell her he was “deeply sorry” and promised to “stick to the fight” for the McCain Kennedy bill, which would allow America’s 12 million illegal immigrants to work towards obtaining a green card.

After a meeting between US President George W Bush and senate leaders last week, Republicans and Democrats agreed to try to get an immigrant bill passed by Memorial Day — the last Monday in May.

McCain Kennedy co-sponsorer Ted Kennedy, who was at the meeting with Mr Bush, told the Irish Examiner he believed the president is serious about reaching a deal.

That’s also the view of immigration expert and former congressman Bruce Morrison, who lent his name to the 48,000 Morrison visas given to the Irish in the early 1990s.

He believes a deal could be worked out, at least in the Senate, leaving one seriously big problem for illegal immigrants — the US House of Representatives, which has swung massively to the right.

It has already approved the Sensenbrenner King Bill, which would make illegal immigration an aggravated felony.

Under US law, the Senate and House write their individual bills and their respective leaders meet to hammer out a deal and send an agreed bill to the president.

According to Mr Kennedy, Mr Morrison and others, serious compromise will be required to reconcile the two, apparently ideologically opposed, bills.

At the immigration rally, the anger was directed almost exclusively at the House of Representative’s bill’s co-sponsor, Long Island Republican congressman, Peter King.

Mr King probably knows more about Irish issues than any other congressman, but now faces massive upheaval from his Irish supporters.

He claims that, as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, he must secure US borders before there can be any talk of legalisation.

As Ms Brennan was comforted after her speech, ILIR vice-chair Ciaran Staunton vowed there would be no surrender until the House capitulated.

“I know it’s the mother of all walls but we’ll run right over it. The Irish have hit many walls in the time here in the States and this is no different. We’ll just knock this one right down,” he said.