The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform

Families urged to start lobbying to help illegals
Sunday May 14 2006
Sunday Independent
JEROME REILLY

FAMILY and friends of undocumented Irish people in America have been urged to lobby US politicians, as the battle over immigration laws reaches a crucial stage.

Grant Lally, formerly a key figure in the Bush campaigns for the White House, will meet Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern tomorrow to discuss the subject.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Mr Lally, an Irish-American New York lawyer, who is a leading strategist for the Republican party, says that Irish families who have relatives working in the US should start writing to individual congressmen and senators. Mr Lally, of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, will impress on Minister Ahern how critical the next 40 days will be.

"It looks as though there's going to be an immigration bill in the next 40 days, and that will decide whether those Irish in America who are undocumented will be legalised, or a very different scenario will develop which will criminalise all those who are in the United States without documentation. That would be a terrible thing if that was adopted," he said.

The Irish who have been in America for years could be forced to leave in a matter of weeks, and the lives they had built in the US will be ended, wasted.

"There are between 40,000 and 50,000 undocumented Irish, and their lives have been getting harder and harder. There are now proof requirements to get driving licences and to open bank accounts, and people can't go home to attend family weddings or funerals, or if their mother and father gets sick they just can't get back.

"If a bill, which would turn all these undocumented Irish into criminal felons, was passed, people would be hunted down, and then jailed and then expelled. It's a terrible prospect and this really is the critical time to really make a difference.

"What we want is something like Senator McCain's and Senator Kennedy's bill passed by the US Senate and hopefully passed into law. That is the best scenario for the Irish, to be legalised," Mr Lally said.

Last Friday, US Senate leaders announced an agreement to resume debate on legislation that would provide legal status to millions of immigrants, establish a guest-worker programme and bolster border security.