75 Comments

• mopickelly | Mar 12, 2012, 02:06 PM EDT

  Numbers-USA is not anti-immigrant! It IS anti- illegal immigrant and against irrational importation of legal immigrants when theUSA is not sufficiently able to take of its own citizens and we are trillions of dollars in debt. Immigrants should benefit a country, not become an additional strain on the infrastructure of that country. I see no value in allowing more immigration to compete with unemployed American workers.

• occassio | Feb 15, 2012, 04:58 PM EST

  The loss of jobs in America is not the fault of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, nor is it the fault of the Irish visa program. The fault lay with the manufacturing sector and other companies who began, at least 30 years ago, to close down plants and businesses and outsource the work to countries who had little or no labor laws and who were not burdened with the responsibility of providing a living wage and other forms of security for their workers. No insurance, no 40-hour work week, no overtime pay, no retirement, no medical, no dental, no safe working conditions, but profit abounding. Note the latest kerfuffle about Apple in China. This practice still continues and has decimated the job market and been devastating for workers who found themselves jobless and in dire straights after working for years with these companies. While the repercussions weren't noticed when the economy was good, the recent recession along with exorbitant amounts of money spent on war and various tax cuts brings it to the economic forefront. Politicians or others blaming illegal immigrants and extension of Irish visa program are using these issues as red herrings to further their own agendas. A reading of the history of labor laws and corporate practices, will make evident on whose shoulders the blame should be placed – not on the shoulders if illegal immigrants and extension of visas for Irish – but with corporations who profited at the expense of their employees and took advantage of the poor and underdeveloped countries where they chose to off-shore. Read the history and get the facts.

• joycean | Feb 14, 2012, 10:46 AM EST

  MaryM, I agree. My neice has an Ivy League education and 2 Masters dgrees and is unable to find a decent job. Her fiance has a PhD. from the University of Durham, and is looking for something other than a temporary position. My brother, who is an award winning scientist with patents to his credit and multiple degrees, was forced into early retirement. My sister, with an advanced degree from Harvard was let go. We also know people who are skilled tradesmen who are living from day-to-day. These are NOT uneducated, unskilled laborers; in fact, they are as well educated or better than anyone in Ireland.

• MaryM232 | Feb 13, 2012, 11:31 PM EST

  Springfield9, the large percentage of the US unemployed are citizens, and they go from the skilled trades all the way up to highly educated and degreed professionals. The US doesn't have a worker or skills shortage, that is a lie. We don't need cheap Irish foreign labor any more than we need Mexican, Indian or any other cheap foreign labor. This woman of Irish ancestry was proud to call her two senators, and congressman, and call & email other senators & congresspeople, and give them an earfull of the hell fire, my Irish grandmother would have, were she still alive. US immigration laws are to protect US citizen workers, and they need to be enforced. We're not going to let the rest of the world displace us any longer. Why don't you spend your time fighting to prevent the displacement of Irish citizen workers in Ireland, instead of seeking to spread that foul disease that reduced Ireland to what it is today?

• Curitiba | Feb 13, 2012, 07:02 PM EST

  Sorry Ciara, I don't believe in any Humanist stuff, so it's no good appealing to my conscience on that level. I suppose you could fit them all into Ireland quite comfortably. I am led to believe you can fit the entire population of the world standing shoulder to shoulder on the Isle of Man, so I guess you are right. 5 billion New Irish.

• ciaradexy | Feb 13, 2012, 12:36 PM EST

  Youre right Georgie, we'll just leave them there to die yeah? Im aware you dont have a conscience but I do and if someone genuinely needs help then we should offer it as it was offered to the Irish when the Irish needed it.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 13, 2012, 10:02 AM EST

  springfield--That's a bad deal for Ireland. They send us 10k university graduates, while they import tens of thousands of illiterates and semiliterates from Asia and Africa?

• Springfield9 | Feb 13, 2012, 08:19 AM EST

  Unemployment is a serious problem. However, if you look carefully, you discover a large portion of that segment is UNEDUCATED and cannot speak English. The 10,500 visas would bring UNIVERSITY educated people. In that light, if you are a High School Graduate dolt - yes, you would be in trouble.

• Springfield9 | Feb 13, 2012, 08:12 AM EST

  @johnvalentine - Brown is creating a a legal immigration visa. You have the Irish mixed up with the Mexicans, Guatamalans, Salvadorians, etc. Time for your meds.

• Springfield9 | Feb 13, 2012, 08:08 AM EST

  Someone please ask Mr. Stanton what other Nationality sent 125,000 men to die preserving the Union?

• sirpeter | Feb 13, 2012, 04:50 AM EST

  Georgie Boy.Show me evidence that St Vincent de Paul pay court fines for shoplifters, petty thieves, fraudsters etc. St Vincent de Paul is there to help poor people and this helps society as a whole.You know you can go to jail for not paying a road tax fine or a small debt of 50 Euro?Is it right that the Irish taxpayer pays out a couple of thousand euro to process a person and keep him/her in jail for a few days.The judge has no choice.The law has to be seen to be implemented. If they do pay a fine it's probably for first offenders who can't pay a small fine.A person deserving help that has come to the St Vincent de Paul attention in court.Sounds like a good idea to me if they do that.But you can't see how it saves us money in the long run can you Georgina?

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 13, 2012, 02:31 AM EST

  So curdexter wants to import a million foreign migrants into Ireland. Any preference for origin, curdexter? China? A million certainly won't be missed. Islamic countries? You'd better get your burkha out. Africa? Free female circumcisions in Irish hospitals!

• johntvalentine | Feb 12, 2012, 11:40 PM EST

  I love the history of Ireland. I love the Irish. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist. One only needs to have common sense, to see that NUMBERS U.S.A. has the very heart of our beloved America in mind. Come to our beloved America but never come ILLEGALLY. America is a land of laws. LEGAL, is us our byword. God in Heaven, gave our beloved America it's sacred Constitution. Three cheers for Numbers U.S.A.

• allentown | Feb 12, 2012, 07:53 PM EST

  69 posters on this topic and they are still coming in. Boy, does Niall know how to get our blood boiling.

• ciaradexy | Feb 12, 2012, 06:33 PM EST

  Sorry, that should be over 2 million!

• ciaradexy | Feb 12, 2012, 06:29 PM EST

  Curitiba, we ALL have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than our selves. Its a simple humanist philosophy which is also part of most religious philosophy as far as Im aware so yeah, Ireland should take some in. 1 million Irish emigrated during the famine, it would be hypocritical for us to ignore the starving in other parts of the world who may need help.

• RussellSias | Feb 12, 2012, 02:32 PM EST

  Folks, NumbersUSA is an excellent source of material. Apparently better than this one. As usual, this article cannot understand or make separation between legal and illegal immigration. To them, it seems immigration is all that matters, even if illegal. Also, they obviously feel that the Irish should be privileged. They ignore that we currently have over 22 million unemployed in our country, and that ANY VISA increases are counter productive to the U.S. solving its unemployment problem. Granted the bill to allow another 10,500 Irish into the U.S. is detrimental to Ireland, but they fail to consider that without the jobs, all another 10,500 people in the U.S. would do is bloat the unemployment numbers here even further. Come done on NumbersUSA all you want, but when you do, please use a bit of everyday common sense, will you?

• Kate | Feb 12, 2012, 02:31 PM EST

  What is being overlooked here is that immigration policy in the U.S., Europe, Ireland, or elsewhere should be beneficial to, or, at the very least, not harmful to the citizens of the country. With high unemployment in the U.S., it would be insane to carve out yet another special visa category to allow more foreign/Irish workers to take jobs from Americans. Based on comments posted here, it seems many in Ireland wish they had more control over immigration. Many decent-paying jobs have left the U.S., and many Americans have been unemployed for long periods of time or have dropped out of the work force altogether. Stopping increases in foreign workers to compete with U.S. workers can in no way be construed as targeting the Irish or anyone else. Sorry guys, but as an American of Irish background, I believe it is in the interest of American workers to reduce all immigration, especially now with the state of our economy.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 12, 2012, 12:31 PM EST

  Does anyone else notice the incongruity of the headline of the Irish Central article "Anti-Immigrant group Numbers USA..." almost side by side with a photo of a Numbers USA placard which says "Immigrants YES, Illegals NO"? What part of that placard could the Irish Central folks not understand?

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 12, 2012, 12:27 PM EST

  One of the craziest things I've ever heard was told to me in Ireland a few weeks back. Many readers will be familiar with the Society of Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charity which in the past did good work in alleviating poverty in Ireland. They still hold regular collections in Ireland. But what is not well known is that one of the ways they use the money gathered is to pay the fines of foreign criminals who are convicted in Irish courts! Shoplifters, petty thieves, fraudsters etc. from places like Eastern Europe and Africa, all they need do is give St Vincent de Paul a call when they are before a court. SVP will show up with a checkbook and write a check. Once again the good people of Ireland are being made utter fools of.

• joycean | Feb 12, 2012, 12:27 PM EST

  Assimillation is an important issue. Around 1900, a cartoon expressed what was then the hope for immigrants coming to America: people in assorted national costumes climbed a ladder into a large "smelting" or melting pot, and climbed out the other side all dressed as identical Uncle Sams. By the 1980s, a new ideal had developed, multiculturalism - many different ethnic groups could live together but maintain their separate identities. The former version requires generations of intermarriage; the latter version is the one that has been causing trouble in places like France and Germany.

• Curitiba | Feb 12, 2012, 12:10 PM EST

  4 billion people are desperately poor and opressed and need our help, Ciara. Should they all be let into Ireland?

• WoundedKnee | Feb 12, 2012, 08:47 AM EST

  Really impressive contribution from the NUMBERS USA folks here. Why don't they set up a branch in Ireland? NUMBERS IRELAND sounds like it would make a good research and lobbying group to try to bring some sanity into Irish immigration policy.

• WoundedKnee | Feb 12, 2012, 08:45 AM EST

  Eiriamach, you've never been outside the US, have you? Because if you go to other countries as I have, such as Asia, Europe and South America, you'll see people wearing American style jeans, listening to rap or other American music, watching American movies, using American technology such as i-pads, following American celebraties such as Angeline etc. etc. The Irish are a case in point, they consider themselves half-American already because they watch so much American TV shows and movies. Eiriamach, you just won't see how much American culture permeates vast areas of the whole world until you travel more.

• DaileyPlanet | Feb 12, 2012, 12:50 AM EST

  Absurd article. Is IrishCentral racist because it asks for your degree of "Irishness"? NumbersUSA is an organization that supports reasonable LEGAL immigration, not ILLEGAL immigration. The only ones that support ILLEGAL immigration are the businesses that want to take advantage of their status to pay them substandard wages, and those with their own, selfish agenda. Illegal immigrants are criminals; they have broken the laws of the country they have violated. Would IrishCentral support the illegal immigration of 25 million Russians into Ireland? Or, 25 million Mexicans, Or Germans, or of any country? I think not. The United States has been the most welcoming country in the world, taking in more immigrants than ALL OTHER COUNTRIES COMBINED. We support those who obey our laws and come here legally, but we cannot tolerate open, illegal entry, just as any country should. Wake up! Its so easy to throw the "R" word out, but its been done so much, its losing its impact. People are starting to be skeptical of anyone who screams "racism" whenever something happens that they don't like. Its the boy that cries wolf, over and over.

• cricket3991 | Feb 11, 2012, 11:58 PM EST

  I am proud of my Irish heritage, however, I cannot agree with this article. I have been a member of Numbers USA for several years because I believe there are simply too many illegal immigrants in our country, and because of that there is no room for more legal immigrants. Sure we have plenty of land but people don't live in the desert or plains of North Dakota, they move to cities and live in run down appartment buildings, work cheap and send thousands of $$ back to Mexico or other countries. They take the jobs that white men use to do. Don't tell me white men do not know how to roof a house, they do, but illegals work for less money so they get hired. Two of my grown children are out of work. My niece has been outof work for 3 years. Illegals also receive Social Security and welfare that my taxes pay for. Americans are tired of paying for people who come here and break our laws and take our jobs. Secondly, to "eiriamach" Please be aware that bringing illegals or any immigrant into the USA who refuses to learn the language destroys our schools. Do you have any idea how hard it is to teach a room full of children when one child cannot speak English? Try a room with several children who can't speak English! Now you have an idea why our schools are not doing very well. This country has become so politically correct no one can set standards and abide by them. If a child can't speak our language that is ok, send them to school and they will eventually learn but at what cost? The cost is to the other 24 students who can speak English but teacher spends so much time with the one child that the others go beggin. To assume we need uneducated immigrants to do our work because our schools are bad is unbelievable.

• immigrant1979 | Feb 11, 2012, 09:40 PM EST

  Why on Earth would you tell a fib, a big one that NumbersUSA is anti-immigrant? They are not. They are anti-illegal immigrant and we have so many here that have taken over our jobs, churches, schools, healthcare system to a point of no return!!! We need to close our southern borders and decrease immigration from all countries until we get a handle on our situation. I was born in N. Ireland and I am a proud American since 1999! You need to look at La Raza and Luluac and see what they are up to right inside our borders and they are doing it illegally. NumbersUSA has it right and there is not one bone in their bodies that is anti-immigrant. Please be careful of your reporting and do not follow the left-wing media here who has it all wrong.

• retsel | Feb 11, 2012, 08:31 PM EST

  Please, before slandering any group, please get the facts straight. I know of only one group that believes NumbersUSA is a racist group and that is La Raza (the race), which seeks to reclaim the southwestern states as a homeland for Latinos. This non-rofit organization was not founded by John Tanton, but Roy Beck. SPLC has never claimed NumbersUSA as racist. Numbers does support stopping "illegal" immigration, E-Verify and hiring of Americans 1st during this ecoomic crisis. Perhaps it would be an eyeopener if, before making false claims, went to NumbersUSA.com, read what the organization is about and watched the Gumball Analogy video.

• sirpeter | Feb 11, 2012, 06:46 PM EST

  Curitiba.Listen to eiriamach you might learn something at comment Feb 11, 2012, 11:01 AM EST.

• ciaradexy | Feb 11, 2012, 05:09 PM EST

  FedUp, like the Irish ''assimilated'' in the US, Australia and Canada etc? You can see from some Americans posts on here that they hold a very old form of irish culture dear to them. They didnt 'assimilate' with the natives in these countries so why do you expect migrants into Ireland to do what they didnt? People are entitled to claim asylum here or should we ban everyone even those who really need our help?

• Curitiba | Feb 11, 2012, 05:09 PM EST

  appreciated, joycean

• JudyStinger | Feb 11, 2012, 05:07 PM EST

  All nations are hurting economically. I don't like it either but truly feel that we have to give precedence to those Americans who are out of work right now. It is nothing against the Irish or any other group. It's a shame that the author thought he had to bring race into all of this. Does he not know what is going on in the world or it is simply that he didn't care what he wrote.

• FedUp65 | Feb 11, 2012, 04:51 PM EST

  As an Irishman I find this author of this article totally misinformed. The main question is HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN THE SHIP HOLD??? If we let all those into our country who want to come, we will be living like "rats in a cage." Where do we get the resources? Does Mr O'Dowd want every city in America to look like NY? Maybe he prefers Bangladesh?? Our country is being destroyed now by millions from Third World countries who come here to get on the welfare dole and refuse to assimulate.

• Taylor55 | Feb 11, 2012, 04:12 PM EST

  Your article is totally idiotic. Why would someone that you claim wants only white immigration oppose more Irish immigrants? But since that's what you guys want, why aren't you promoting re-enactment of the 1924 national origins immigration bill?

• ciaradexy | Feb 11, 2012, 03:26 PM EST

  Its great to read really well made points on here by people like Eiríamach and its equally as hillarious to have George 'The eternal Tourist' Dillon spouting his usual comedic gems! When you have no facts George, just try and insult! Its got you this far, fair play!

• gowestie | Feb 11, 2012, 02:59 PM EST

  One more thing, NumbersUSA was founded by Roy Beck not John Tanton. You really should investigate things in a little more detail and not rely on Wikipedia as your source for some of your claims. Does any other journalist really use Wikipedia as a source?

• gowestie | Feb 11, 2012, 02:50 PM EST

  Sorry Mr. O'Dowd but you are way off base in describing Numbers USA as an anti-immigrant group. Numbers USA is all about stopping illegal immigration and reducing the numbers of legal immigrants to a more manageable number. Why reduce legal immigration you might ask? Because we have very high unemployment in the U.S.A and we frankly do not need to import large numbers of foreign workers to compete with our native unemployed for jobs. This is the exact reason that this bill by Brown is being opposed. Just think about it this way: We have several million unemployed legal citizens. We tax payers must pay for unemployment benefits for these unlucky millions that don't have a job (to include repeated extension of unemployment benefits). We have a terrible illegal immigration problem. So what possible sense does it make for the U.S.A. to increase numbers of legal immigrants by issuing work visas. This does not help any of our own unemployed citizens who continue to be paid unemployment benefits (and want jobs). It is irresponsible for anyone in the U.S. Government to even consider such a thing as increasing the number of foreign workers and granting another amnesty to illegal immigrants. I am of Irish decent and would love to see an increase in legal European immigration, but too many previous mass amnesties for illegals and the current illegal immigration problem make this an impossible position to support. I think Ireland is a great country. Maybe they should increase the number of Americans they allow to get work visas in their country....I bet that is not going to happen. Immigration to the U.S. is not some God given right that the rest of the world seems to think they are entitled to. It is a privilege. The people that are for open borders are so out of touch with the way the rest of the world manages their immigration policies.

• rebelhorse | Feb 11, 2012, 02:46 PM EST

  NumbersUSA is not "anti-immigrant," has never been accused by the SPLC of having "racist roots," and was created by Roy Beck, not John Tanton. The New York Times investigated NumbersUSA for three months last year and found no evidence of any anti-immigrant actions or words. But most importantly, as a member of NumbersUSA with Irish heritage, I must say this country has about as many immigrants as it can handle. We are in a budget deficit, our schools are going downhill much in part to being required to teach immigrant children in the same class as native born while ESL is mandated holding our citizens children back. If wanting unemployed citizens to have jobs ahead of foreign workers or illegal aliens is racist you can count me as one also.It is not about race, it's about the numbers It is quite disgraceful for O'Dowd to quote slanderous comment from an organization that represents no one in the South that I've ever met, and in fact which no one has ever heard of. Have some journalistic ethics, O'Dowd. There are currently 12.8 million unenployed people in the United States. At the current rate, it will take 12 years for this country to once again reach full employment. Those numbers stretch across all levels of education and skills. Even 10,000 Irish immigrants will make re-employment more difficult and extend the misery of 10,000 Americans. We also have a problem with our southern border which is breached everyday, bringing millions of illegal immigrants.

• Rymac123 | Feb 11, 2012, 02:38 PM EST

  I am a member of Numbers/USA and support their efforts on immigration. They are not attempting to stop or add controls to Irish immigration but to stop the illegal immigration from the countries that the United Stated does not have control over. I live in an area that is probably populated with 60% illegals and no one cares the Congressional representitive from this area is a former US Border Patrol Agent and since he has become a polititian his values and responsibilities for the oath that he took no longer mean anything. The number of illegals from the South not only Mexico but other countries is unbelievable. There have even been report of Chinese comming by boat desimbarking in Mexico and sneeking across the Southeast U.S. desert where there is no wall or Border protection. Mexico would like to assist but they have a war going on. My mother entered this country legally from Ireland through Ellis Island and I still have her admission papers. I would suggest that those causing the uproar ask your neighbor if they have their documentation. Enough said. Support Numbers/USA.

• eiriamach | Feb 11, 2012, 02:37 PM EST

  I cannot imagine what GD means by the USA being "the vibrant center of world culture." Perhaps he has in mind our millions of unemployed among the 99 percent watching their dimming, flickering (because they can't afford to pay the electric bill, much less pay a museum entry fee) TV to experience the "Lifestyles of the [1 percent] Rich and Famous."

• eiriamach | Feb 11, 2012, 02:23 PM EST

  Yes, ciaradexy, Ireland and the USA are in a similar situation with regard to immigration. But your education system remains strong, while ours is worsening from empty state budgets, cutbacks, and distracted students and teachers. Economic recovery seems to be slower in Ireland than here, but your long-term outlook, once recovery takes hold, seems much better because of Ireland's careful economic/third-level education planning years ago. Free enterprise is such an irrational ideology here that the federal government cannot do any kind of central planning without huge protests and threatened shutdowns. Just look at the brouhaha over Obama's national health care plan! Which population is better off? If I were Irish and young, I'd emigrate to seek work, but I'd leave the USA in a heartbeat when I saw signs of Ireland's recovery.

• taketotask | Feb 11, 2012, 02:22 PM EST

  As a member of NumbersUSA I can tell you that this O'dowd hit piece uses some tired old worn out arguments. What attracted me to NumbersUSA in the first place was they state on their site "No to Immigrant Bashing." The SPLC needs to clean up their own act. If wanting unemployed citizens to have jobs ahead of foreign workers or illegal aliens is racist you can count me as one also.It is not about race, it's about the numbers.I have some Irish blood in my veins, I took action on the alert this hit piece refers to.Does that make me a racist against myself?Get real and base your arguments on facts, not repeated false statements.Repeating something that is false over an over does not make it truth.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 11, 2012, 02:13 PM EST

  No curdexter, we're not "in a similar boat", that's utter stupidity, typical of the nonsense you post here. We Americans are not emigrating to Ireland, the Irish are trying to emigrate to the US and elsewhere! We're not looking for sweetheart deals with Irish Immigration, but you Irish are looking for favoritism to skip the line and get into the US before others who are more entitled than you! We're not a tiny country of a few million with a dying language and culture, we're about 300 million, and the vibrant center of world culture! We're a nation of immigrants, built upon the theft of lands from the native population. Ireland is not a nation of immigrants, it has had a settled population for hundreds of years, but now it is giving itself away, and cheaply, like a back-street prostitute. We can take millions more, and they'll become Americans. Your immigrants won't become Irish. Why should they?--You have nothing to offer. And finally, we're not committing ethnosuicide, you and the other dumb Irish are!

• ciaradexy | Feb 11, 2012, 12:19 PM EST

  Eiríamach-''Also, less-educated Americans are unwilling to take minimum-wage, labour-intensive jobs (which many immigrants are happy to have). Given these facts, reducing mass immigration will not result in significantly better employment numbers for American workers. The American economy needs immigrants.'' Well said, now replace Americans with Irish and you'll see we are in a similar boat here.

• eiriamach | Feb 11, 2012, 11:01 AM EST

  U.S. schools are failing to teach math well enough for American graduates to compete for high-tech jobs (in which many Irish and Asians excel). Many American youth fail to qualify for, and too many flunk out of, third-level engineering, tech, and science programs. Also, less-educated Americans are unwilling to take minimum-wage, labour-intensive jobs (which many immigrants are happy to have). Given these facts, reducing mass immigration will not result in significantly better employment numbers for American workers. The American economy needs immigrants. It will continue to need them until our public school system recovers from massive failure. When immigration policy does "favor one nationality over another," it seeks needed skills taught by one nation's school system and not taught well enough in the USA.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 11, 2012, 10:33 AM EST

  One of the current initiatives of NUMBERS USA is to petition Congress to reduce Mass Immigration to the US. Readers can judge for themselves whether such a petition deserves the disgusting slanders cited by O'Dowd in his article above: ---"Dear [Sen. or Rep. name here]: Who should get the next U.S. jobs? That is the question you in Congress have refused to discuss. Should the federal government continue to add a million new immigrants each year to compete with unemployed Americans? Or should you cut immigration numbers and give jobless Americans priority? By not discussing this question, you have allowed our immigration policies to automatically make it harder and harder for jobless Americans to start earning paychecks again. I stand on the side of unemployed Americans, although I have no ill will toward those who would like to immigrate here; in fact, foreign-born U.S. citizens are among the 20 million Americans who want a full-time job but can't find one. Make it easier for all Americans to get a job -- please reduce future immigration numbers."....

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 11, 2012, 10:29 AM EST

  CORRECTION: Numbers USA is NOT an "Anti-immigrant group", as O'Dowd's headline so fallaciously and sloppily puts it. Numbers USA supports immigration to the USA, as long as it is prudently and lawfully administered and controlled. It is quite contemptible for O'Dowd to quote slanderous comment from an organization that represents no one in the South that I've ever met, and in fact which no one has ever heard of. Have some journalistic ethics, O'Dowd. Disgraceful.

• joycean | Feb 11, 2012, 08:54 AM EST

  Curriba, Thanks for your sensible analysis. There are currently 12.8 million unenployed people in the United States. At the current rate, it will take 12 years for this country to once again reach full employment. Those numbers stretch across all levels of education and skills. Even 10,000 Irish immigrants will make re-employment more difficult and extend the misery of 10,000 Americans. We also have a problem with our southern border which is breached everyday, bringing millions of illegal immigrants.

• Curitiba | Feb 11, 2012, 05:58 AM EST

  sirpeter-here is some basic economics for you. There is an enormous supply of Irish labour of all education levels, but no demand for it in the USA. This is because they have cheaper and even more plentiful labour from Latin America of all education levels as well. The "demand" consists of Irish labour demanding to be let into the USA, not demand for Irish labour from the Americans. Plus there are larger countries with more clout than Ireland who are demanding that America let in their citizens, India for instance. I'd ask that university you did economics at for a refund if I were you, Pete. Clearly they were having you on.

• Buffalobrave | Feb 11, 2012, 05:56 AM EST

  angrypaddy; You're generalizing which is a weak response to the article. The country was build on the backs of emigrants. After it was stolen from the indigenous people of course. If you're talking about the financial mess in Ireland, well that all started on Wall Street U.S.A.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 11, 2012, 03:25 AM EST

  "there are no organisations in Ireland who are campaigning for this." No, you dope curdexter, just the Irish government!

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 11, 2012, 03:24 AM EST

  A poster styling himself RocknReel says my comments make him sick. This is the same individual who on another thread wrote that Nigerians in Ireland are "scroungers who use and abuse the system". I'm happy to make racist creeps like you sick, RocknReel. Irish bigots like you disgust me.

• allentown | Feb 10, 2012, 09:27 PM EST

  I suggest the posters on this topic google NumbersUSA and see how many illegal aliens Niall O'Dowd wants to grant amnesty to inorder to get the illegal Irish in the USA amnesty.

• galway2001 | Feb 10, 2012, 08:40 PM EST

  Who are theese people that want to stop the IRISH to come in to this country,they should look at history and know that the IRISH build this country.not any other group also they work very hard you dont hear of them doing drugs or shooting people or involved in robbery's they own business and hire people to work so stop the B.S MY HAT OFF TO MR BROWN

• sirpeter | Feb 10, 2012, 07:41 PM EST

  Ciaradexy.Aren't Americans a right shower of arrogant feckers.More Americans leave the US and go to other countries than Irish go to the US.Curitiba hasn't a clue about economics.He thinks it's about obligation.How am I supposed to teach him about economics and supply and demand in the US on fecking IC?Apply to be part of the United States.hahahah.Americans have some very good qualities.But even those the Irish cope foundation are smarter than some of the Americans here.They don't know about their own country never-mind Ireland.I like Americans but I don't think I could live with one.

• oaklongan | Feb 10, 2012, 06:33 PM EST

  Numbers USA's present Roy Beck's is Pure Irony, 'though don't think he intended it as such. I really appreciate the comments to this report...an illuminating education, most of which see All sides of the coins, HONESTLY and CLEARLY.

• ciaradexy | Feb 10, 2012, 06:31 PM EST

  Ireland isnt relying on the US. We are going to Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East ,Europe, Asia and Canada. Its Americans who are lobbying for these visas, there are no organisations in Ireland who are campaigning for this.

• Curitiba | Feb 10, 2012, 04:34 PM EST

  Ireland is relying on a country where the Irish vote matters less and less as the years go by to take in its surplus unemployed. What possible reason would America have to allocate so many visas to Irish people in particular, when it can get workers who are just as good (and cheaper) from the Third World? What possible reason could it have for allowing any immigration at all, when it has so many unemployed itself? America has no obligation to Ireland, and Ireland is wrong to rely on it. Last I looked, Ireland is a member of the EU. Why is it not arranging with the Germans or French to help them out, otherwise leave the EU and apply to become part of the United States.

• RockNReel | Feb 10, 2012, 03:49 PM EST

  George Dillon needs to learn to spell --theres no W in racist And his comments make me sick

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 10, 2012, 12:48 PM EST

  lokionline:"I didn't think I would find myself agreeing with GeorgeDillon in these threads". Oh really? So you're a big fan of illegal immigration to the US and Mass Immigration to Ireland? Well then I hope you never agree with me, because I will continue opposing both.

• MichaelMcGrath | Feb 10, 2012, 12:06 PM EST

  That said there is that great historic friendship between Ireland and the USA that will in the end see to it that this issue is solved amicably. Hopefully Numbers will see this friendship as vital in the world and will seek to promote it, and instead of outright kneejerk opposition, will play their part in the framing of the Bill which must place responsibility on the Irish Government to sort out our own problems. Screams of racist etc are counter-productive, so much so that that word is meaningless, only a term of abuse now. Thus the vast majority of the concerned members of Numbers must not be insulted thus for exerting their right of freedom of expression. But members of Numbers must realise that these Irish emigrants of today are well educated, skilled and professional people, they won't be taking jobs off the average American worker. They are going to work though, the Irish have traditionally gone everywhere to work, to integrate fully, the Irish do not know the whereabouts of a welfare office and don't want to know. Numbers could be shooting the American economy in the foot by refusing the Irish because we here in Ireland do not want to lose their skills and abilities!These Irish people, like all the forty millions in the USA before them, will pay their taxes, will defend America, will some of them go forward for elective office to the highest offices in the land, and from them may spring some blessed day another JFK. Remember the Alamo, the Seventh Cavalry, the Fighting 69th, all the glory that has the Irish forever in the hearts of Americans everywhere, such glory recreates itself along the generations, let America pass this Bill and Americans will never regret it. God save Ireland, God Bless America.

• lokionline | Feb 10, 2012, 11:42 AM EST

  I didn't think I would find myself agreeing with GeorgeDillon in these threads,yet I have to agree that Scott Brown's legislation is ill-advised.
  
  Favoritism and nepotism are never good foundations for public policy. I also don't think N.America owes Irish people currently living in Ireland anything other than a fair chance at immigration.
  
  Ireland should look to Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Finland to form new trading and monetary alliances as well as free labour markets.

• joan1954 | Feb 10, 2012, 11:37 AM EST

  I never read anything of Numbers USA shouting out the bill that went through the House before Christmas targeting the Indians, Chinese et all. What is their beef against the Irish to be sarcastic they're white and the Irish were adversely affected by the 1965 act? And as to ancavker's comment, Greece is part of the EU and they can go anywhere in the EU or in the EU free trade area. Why should they leave Europe if they have right of travel and of living wherever they wish. Same goes for the Irish but I think they prefer English language countries.

• ancavker | Feb 10, 2012, 11:14 AM EST

  How come in every major publication citing the Greek crisis, there are no stories of Greeks leaving their country in droves. The Irish now are all supposed to be highly educated, more sophisticated, and culturally European, and all the rest. And yet here they are running away again.

• SeamusMartin | Feb 10, 2012, 10:56 AM EST

  Me vote is with the honorable MichaelMcGrath. I also wish the Irish Gov't would change the citizenship law so my Ireland born great-grandparents (with proof of course) would qualify my Irish citizenship. Besides me, if the Gov't did maybe more money would come into Erie.

• SyndiLiaHolmes | Feb 10, 2012, 10:26 AM EST

  If these people like Numbers USA want to close the borders I want to get out of America first. They are nothing but facists.

• MichaelMcGrath | Feb 10, 2012, 10:14 AM EST

  As an Irishman born in Ireland we have three quarters of a million immigrants from worldwide surging in here over the last decade - and driving the Irish out of Ireland! I don't agree that all the members of Numbers would be Nazis and Racists. I think they're entitled to be anti immigration. However I think they might take into account that the Irish helped found the USA, fought for it and built it up, that Numbers might agree to the Bill if the US Government tells the Irish government to clean its own house up here first and not be exporting all our own bright young people willy nilly. Michael McGrath, Kilkenny City, Ireland.

• markjmills | Feb 10, 2012, 10:05 AM EST

  What a load of camel-snot this article is. Expressing concern and support for America's own jobless citizens struggling in a terrible economy is now, oh horrors, nativist? Giving over more than a third of the article to citing the far-left SLPC as an "authoritative" source on anything is just journOlistic laziness. SPLC have an agenda, and it is not the truth - question their uber-PC cultural Marxism and you, too, will be called a racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic fascist warmonger who eats the poor and kicks puppies. Truth has nothing to do with their claims, as any fair-minded person can see when their outrageous smears are investigated. Hope you enjoyed the cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, Niall.

• dickmac | Feb 10, 2012, 09:57 AM EST

  The Irish have been just about eliminated from Green Cards and this will only give anyone a temporary situation. This is bias from the word go. The Irish have proven their worth for many years

• Irish by birth | Feb 10, 2012, 09:50 AM EST

  This is a totally bogus and misleading headline . Being Irish by birth and American by the grace of God the conservative movement in America has no problem will legal immigrants at all. I wonder if Mr O' Down can even recite the oath of Citizenship that calls on all new citizens to renounce al foreign potentates and take up arms when lawfully required to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies both foreign and domestic. etc etc. Citizenship is a privilege and not a right. Mr O Dowd getting into bed with the Marxist Southern Law Poverty Center , tells us all what we need to know about Mr O ' Dowd and where his allegiances are. Suggest he should go back to Ireland with the Muslim Terrorist John Walker Lindh and wallow in the anti American class warfare of Marxists in Sinn Fein.

• cillowen | Feb 10, 2012, 09:45 AM EST

  the US owes its origin to the Irish - read thy history o bright off-the-bottle beauty.

• ReturnedYank | Feb 10, 2012, 09:34 AM EST

  I'm Irish, lived in the US for a long while, then came back to Ireland. So, enough bio. I agree with everyone. 1) The US owes Ireland nothing. 2) The Irish are Guinness-drinking surrender monkeys when it comes to tackling problems in their own country. They cut and run every time the going gets tough. It is time to man (and woman) up, and take on the clowns that run the place. In the meantime, Americans should feel free to take on the clowns that run their place.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 10, 2012, 08:25 AM EST

  I am a member of Numbers USA and I fully support our stand in seeking to deny any sweetheart deals to Irish or anyone else. Jamcelt--what exactly is the "poisonous rhetoric" you refer to? Are you like the mad Mass Immigrationists in Ireland who scream "wacist" if anyone says "We need to talk about Mass Immigration". Have some manners. You are correct, however, Jamcelt, the Irish always jump ship rather than trying to steady and save it. And in this generation we have the added factor that the Irish are whining about not having work even while thousands of foreign migrants flood into Ireland o find jobs each month.

• butlerreport | Feb 10, 2012, 08:21 AM EST

  We Irish are immigrants just like anyone else and are allowed to enter the U.S. at the discretion of Americans. We are entitled to nothing.

• Jamcelt | Feb 10, 2012, 08:01 AM EST

  While I do not agree with a lot of the poisonous rhetoric bandied about by these people, the truth is that the Irish are always way too fast and willing to abandon their own country. They need to show a little loyalty and pride instead of running at the drop of a hat. By the way, I am Irish born and raised.