Dáil group to lobby US Congress to help undocumented Irish

A delegation from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade will lobby US Congress today to introduce new legalisation to reform immigration laws.

It is hoped this would offer hope to the thousands of Irish currently living in the US illegally.

A new E3 Visa is being proposed which would allow 10.500 Irish work legally in the United States each year.

Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly said that many Irish in America have made their lives there, despite their illegal status.

"They have houses here, they have children who are going to school here, and yet they're undocumented and therefore liable to deportation art any stage," he said.

"There's Irish citizens every day of the week being picked up in Boston, in New York, in Chicago and spending six weeks in jail before eventually being sent back to Ireland, so we're trying to stop that."