Michael D Higgins calls for passage of E3 visa bill during New York visit

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Michael D Higgins speaking at the IN-NYC business breakfast on Tuesday

Photo by James Higgins

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Making his first visit to the U.S. as president of Ireland this week, Michael D. Higgins signaled his strong support for the Irish undocumented and his hope that Congress will eventually pass a new E-3 visa program which would allow thousands of Irish workers to live and work here legally.

Higgins, accompanied by his wife Sabina, arrived in New York on Monday afternoon for the start of a six-day trip that saw him undertake several community, cultural and business engagements.

Several hundred members of the Irish American community attended a reception at the Irish Consulate in New York on Monday evening for the first stop on Higgins’s American tour.  He applauded the strong ties that bind Ireland and the U.S., and thanked those working on behalf of the undocumented Irish.

“As I reflect on the greatness of this city and particularly on the enormous contribution made towards its success and vibrancy by successive generations of emigrants from Ireland and their descendants, I am mindful that for some the experience of coming here has proved challenging and at times daunting,” Higgins said during his nearly 20-minute speech.

“I am grateful to all those both here in the New York area as well as others elsewhere in the U.S. for the assistance which they have provided over the years to Irish people who have found themselves in such difficulties.”

The president added that he is keenly aware of the problems facing undocumented residents of the U.S.

“I am also particularly conscious of those for whom the future has remained uncertain due to their immigration status. I want to express my thanks to elected representatives at national and local levels here in the U.S. who are continuing to work towards political outcomes which will help alleviate the problems arising for Irish people in that category,” he said.

“I hope that these efforts will meet with success, and I also wish to acknowledge those in the U.S. political system and throughout Irish America who are helping the Irish government in respect of other initiatives such as in the area of E-3 visas which would assure future flows of people between our two countries.”

Higgins noted the resilience of the Irish in the face of a crippling recession, and the anger they feel at the betrayal of “institutions and individuals” who steered the country from prosperity to despair.
“People in Ireland are hurting from the recession. 

They are dismayed that the transient, artificially-based, property-based economic bubble, itself within a global economic recession based on speculation, has turned into ashes,” he said.

“Yet, as our history shows, and as the history of the Irish in America attests, we are a strong and resilient people, with a great sense of community and creativity.  Far from being defeated by circumstances, the Irish people are, for the most part, moving on, getting stuck into what they can do and are good at, and not allowing themselves to sink into any disabling cynicism or fatalism.”
Among those in attendance at the reception were Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and a vast number of local community leaders.  After his speech Higgins and his wife stood on a receiving line to meet all of the guests.

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