Irish in New York react cautiously to new visa bill

Bill is said to only fix part of the problem

MOLLY MULDOON,

Irish Voice Reporter

Published Thursday, December 22, 2011, 7:09 AM

Updated Thursday, December 22, 2011, 7:09 AM

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Last week saw the introduction of two bills to the Senate which could potentially allow 10,000 Irish to come to America every year and obtain work visas.

When Dubliner Clare, 40, heard the news last Tuesday that New York Senator Charles Schumer had introduced a new bill to the Senate, she was elated. Finally, this could be her path to gaining legal status after 12 years of undocumented existence in New York.

“I can only hope that they do the right thing for the Irish,” she told the Irish Voice.

Schumer’s bill is based on the E-3 program which is currently offered to Australian citizens. It would offer 10,000 Irish citizens the chance to obtain work visas. If it is passed as is, it would allow for undocumented Irish to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility through the new E-3 program.

Delaney married an Irishman and the couple reside in Queens. For both of them, the passage of the bill is extremely important.

“I've spent most of my adult life here, my roots are here now,” she reflects.

“I've heard people in the Irish community talking about it because it’s the first positive thing that has happened for the Irish community on this front in a long time.”

Last Friday, Senate Republicans responded with a bill of their own, when Senators Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Mark Kirk of Illinois introduced the Irish Immigration Reform and Encouragement Act of 2011. However, there is no waiver for the undocumented in their bill.

“It fixes part if the problem, but is doesn’t fix all of the problem,” Siobhan Dennehy, executive director of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, told the Irish Voice from her Woodside office.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty about where the bill is heading. Every scenario is different for each applicant, but for fixing future flow it definitely solves the problem.”

When Patrice, 25, heard the news, she admits she was confused. Living here illegally for over five years, the young woman is actively seeking a way to retain legal status.

“As regards to what the bill meant for anyone living illegally out here it was very cryptic,” she said.

“All I knew was that it was a new bill but there was no information as it to how it was going to benefit anyone living out here illegally.

__________

Charles Schumer’s Irish visa bill is a key starting point

Senator Charles Schumer unveils new Irish visa bill

Real hope at last for immigration reform for Irish - Senator Schumer bill to highlight case for work visas

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“I have spoken to someone that has a better understanding about what the bill is proposing and now I have a little more knowledge,” she admitted.

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Curitiba | Jan 14, 2012, 07:27 PM EST

If they are illegal or undocumented or whatever you want to call it, deport them. Why should they go ahead of people who have applied correctly, paid visa fees and waited patiently to be let into the country? If you legalise them, what is the point of having immigration control if you can simply bypass the system by saying "I'm an illegal, so I must be a victim. Therefore I need special treatment". If you haven't got a visa, stay at home.

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joycean | Dec 23, 2011, 09:48 AM EST

George is correct. These people are breaking our laws by being here. We should NOT try to sugarcoat their behavior. Nor is there anything wrong with inventing new words or changing usage. Irish ILLEGALS asre not undocumented. They came into the country with documents, but their documents are out-of-date, illegal. Illegal Irish immigrants are not "economic refugees"; there is no famine in Ireland. They are no worse off than other Europeans. But we aren't seeing illegal British, French, Germans coming here and overstaying visas. This is Ireland's traditional way of dealing with bad economic times. It is time the Irish learned to abide by laws.

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sirpeter | Dec 22, 2011, 10:43 PM EST

Georgie Boy you're parents did their best.Leave the anger go.I'll help ya.Repeat after me three times.All people no matter how I perceive them to be deserve my respect unless they act like I do.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 22, 2011, 02:08 PM EST

eiriamach, despite your long boring paragraphs of nonsense, these people HAVE broken US immigration law. When you come into this country as a tourist you are given a date by which to leave. Violate that, and you are a law breaker. Adhere to the dateline, and you have respected our country and are welcome to return again some time. You, eiriamach apart from being a senseless racist, appear to condone law breaking by foreigners. Do you consort with criminals in other matters?

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eiriamach | Dec 22, 2011, 11:32 AM EST

This article uses the word "undocumented" carefully. I wonder whether Ms Muldoon read the article by H. Samy Alim in the NY Times, Dec. 21: "What If We Occupied Language?" Alim calls on us to "support the campaign to stop the media from using the word 'illegal' to refer to 'undocumented' immigrants.... [O]nly inanimate objects and actions are labeled 'illegal' in English; therefore the use of 'illegals' to refer to human beings is dehumanizing. The New York Times style book currently asks writers to avoid terms like 'illegal alien' and 'undocumented,' but says nothing about 'illegals.' Yet The Times’ standards editor, Philip B. Corbett, did recently weigh in on this, saying that the term 'illegals' has an 'unnecessarily pejorative tone' and that 'it’s wise to steer clear.'" We are more likely to deal with undocumented immigrant workers in a humane way if we do not label them law breakers before we even begin. Perhaps they are a better fit for the category of "refugees" (economic refugees). Just as political refugees flee from oppressive governments, economic refugees flee from the threat of extreme poverty at home. To label them law breakers ("illegals") sets them up as targets of bigotry, harassment and hate crimes. And far-right tea partiers scapegoat them for our own economic crisis, a crisis caused by the greed of mega-corporation CEOs and congressional flunkies for the wealthy, not by immigrants. If we describe them as "undocumented workers," we are more likely to "do the right thing for the Irish,” as Dubliner Clare put it.

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