New Lobby Group Formed

Comment

This week the Irish Voice announces a major undocumented immigration initiative, with a public meeting on Friday, December 9 to be addressed by Esther Olavarria, Senator Edward Kennedy’s immigration expert, and former Congressman Bruce Morrison.

The meeting will be the kick-off for a new organization, Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR), which will come together to address the issue of immigration for the undocumented Irish in America.

The reasons for a specific organization dealing with this issue are obvious. Over the next four months or so, Congress and the White House will make key decisions on illegal immigration.

There are several competing visions of what may happen. Some right wing Republican bills would enforce new laws without any type of provision for those here illegally.

The bill introduced by Senators John McCain and Kennedy would grant illegals a path to legal residency here while also bringing in new enforcement laws. There are also several other bills which lie midway between the competing visions.

The position of the White House is still unclear. This week, President Bush spent two days in border areas looking at enforcement. He has indicated that he will likely favour some guest worker program for the undocumented already here, but it is by no means certain what that will be.

It is vital that the Irish voice is heard in this debate. The Irish government has shown the way with clear backing for the McCain/Kennedy bill.

There is clearly a need also for Irish American activism, as nothing works better on this issue than constituents querying politicians as to their stance as well as determined lobbying.

There are an estimated 25,000 Irish undocumented in the U.S. Some peg the number as significantly higher, some lower.

Suffice to say that since September 11 the plight of these undocumented has become even more desperate as stronger enforcement of U.S. immigration laws has made it impossible for them to leave the country and then return. Most cannot renew driver’s licenses, and the search for employment is also set to get tougher as stricter employer sanctions are certain to be brought in with any new legislation.

An example of how desperate many undocumented have become was shown in the Christine Owed case uncovered by the Irish Voice, where a bogus immigration practitioner duped scores of Irish clients into believing that she could get them a green card.

Existing Irish immigration organizations do a fine job looking after the welfare of immigrants, but because they are Irish government funded, they are forbidden to spend significant amounts of time lobbying.

This newspaper played a leading role in the establishment of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement in 1987. That movement, composed mainly of young Irish undocumented themselves, was hugely responsible for the subsequent Donnelly and Morrison visa programs which legalized tens of thousands of young Irish in the following half decade.

Now is the time for this generation of young Irish to make themselves heard on this issue. We believe that the need for concerted action is greater now than at any time since the Donnelly and Morrison visa programs.

We cannot let this brief window of opportunity pass without making clear that the Irish community has an important voice and is addressing the needs of their people.

We urge all those interested to make a point of attending the meeting on December 9, details of which are published elsewhere in this issue. It is simply not good enough to stand by and let others decide the fate of our undocumented.