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Senator Schumer set to introduce immigration bill in Senate to help Irish

Bill would allow up to 10,000 non-immigrant work visas yearly for Irish

NIALL O'DOWD,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, December 10, 2011, 7:34 AM

Updated Friday, December 16, 2011, 12:29 PM

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Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform leaders Bart Murphy, Celine Kenneally, and Kieran Staunton with Senator Schumer

Photo by Photo by Sean McPhail

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is set to introduce an immigration bill in the senate on Tuesday which would allow up to 10,000 Irish a year to come to America on work visas but not green cards.

Schumer says that leading Democrats Senator Pat Leahy and Senator Richard Durbin will co-sponsor the legislation and he is seeking support from Republican senators as well.

The Schumer move came after he met with 20 Irish community leaders at his New York office on Friday.

The Irish community leaders had expressed their dismay that a bill that passed the House two weeks ago and is now in the senate, allowed more green cards for Chinese, Indian, Filipino and Mexican immigrants but actually took away green cards from Ireland.

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The new Schumer move is based on the E3 visas, which were given to Australia some years ago for their support in the Gulf War. Under the terms of the visa up to 10,000 Australians a year can come to America once they have a job offer and can renew their non-immigrant visas indefinitely.

Schumer’s bill would introduce the same House bill that passed two weeks ago in the senate with the E3 visas added.

In the senate Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has stated that he will oppose the original bill and not allow it expedited passage but there is mounting pressure on the Iowa Republican to let it pass.

Schumer stated that if the bill did not pass he would work on a different bill for next years’ legislative session that would help the Irish.

Bart Murphy, head of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform who flew from San Francisco to be part of the meeting stated afterwards he was very satisfied with the hour-long session.

“We know we have a great friend in Senator Schumer,” he said “and we look forward to the introduction of the new bill. We will work with Irish organizations across the US too bring pressure to bear on legislators to pass it.”

Key Republican senators such as Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Marco Rubio in Florida will be especially targeted by Irish lobby members.

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SUPERFLY9898 | Dec 14, 2011, 06:08 AM EST

Joycean say what you like. The Iraq war was a disgrace. Who gives America the right to go and wreck a soverign country with a bunch of lies. The whole world is disgusted by it. Well them adventures are coming to an end as your nations credit card is about to be maxed out. Get ready for trillions of dollars of cutbacks. The days of foreign agression are numbered. Thank god!!

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joycean | Dec 13, 2011, 09:59 AM EST

BTW, not using Shannon is the easy part. Out planes do not rutinely stop at Shannon. The usual military transport flight planes go through Newfoundland, the Azores, or England. Or they fly straight through to Germany or Spain.This is a manufactured issue that gives the Irish, included their new preident Michael Higgins,a tiny issue that they can use as a way to express anti-American hatred.

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joycean | Dec 12, 2011, 03:49 PM EST

Using Superfly's logic, I think we should stop refueling at Shannon and refuse all Irish immigrants and Irish citizens entry into this country and our air space.

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joycean | Dec 12, 2011, 03:09 PM EST

Superfly, If the majority of your compatrios object to our landing planes at Shannon, you should express your complaints to YOUR government.That is not something that confers an obligation on our part: its an agreement between the heads of government and something that we pay for. I'm glad to hear you don't want to immigrate to our country. You are right, you wouldn't like it.

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SUPERFLY9898 | Dec 12, 2011, 12:08 PM EST

I wouldn't want to live and work in America. I'm from N.Ireland. Unlike America at least I know if I get sick the doctor will check my hearbeat and not my wallet!!

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SUPERFLY9898 | Dec 12, 2011, 12:07 PM EST

Georgedillion while I agree with some of your remarks the "we owe them nothing" comment is a little wrong. It was us who allowed your corrupt government to land thousands and thousands of your soldiers to and from your illegal Iraq adventure at our Shannon Airport for refueling. Personally I disagree with that too.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 11, 2011, 02:10 PM EST

hollabackgurl: Yet another inane post from you. Why do you bother at this stage?

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 11, 2011, 12:03 PM EST

joycean: "we should follow the EU example and only allow jobs for non-US citizens if there are no US citizens who would qualify". You're completely wrong, that's not "the EU example". Or at least it's not the Irish example. Irish capitalists import tens of thousands of workers every year to do jobs that Irish people or other EU citizens could do. That's why I say NO to any concessions for Irish immigration to the US. Let them stay at home and fix their broken country. We owe them nothing.

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joycean | Dec 11, 2011, 10:49 AM EST

10,000 jobs aren't a huge number, but when we have 8.1% unemployment, maybe we should follow the EU example and only allow jobs for non-US citizens if there are no US citizens who would qualify. This seems an odd idea:non-green card positions, indefinitely renewable.I don't think what large multi-nationals do require gratitude on the part of the US. Those corporations do what is best for them. since the US does not tax profits they make overseas, the US gets nothing from them.

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hollabackgurl | Dec 11, 2011, 09:34 AM EST

For US Corporations, Ireland's tax rate and skilled workforce have made investing there one of the most profitable enterprises they have ever pursued. Ireland should expect a similar strong handshake from the US. Ireland has contributed billions in income to US corporations and shareholders. Let's expect a little gratitude.

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ceceann | Dec 10, 2011, 06:27 PM EST

If Chuckie was in office when my Great Grandfather immigrated, I would be speaking with a brogue.

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joycean | Dec 10, 2011, 02:10 PM EST

Now George, If I remember right, your ancestors were in Ireland when Sherman and his boys decided to take a trip to the beach. Otherwise,I tend to agree with you.

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kevinjomlor | Dec 10, 2011, 02:07 PM EST

tell Shumer you don't want to take any more of american jobs from us, you want to be americans. Tell em I said so.

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greensod | Dec 10, 2011, 01:29 PM EST

That idea by Bailey2000 just might be worth another look.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 10, 2011, 01:24 PM EST

No American who loves Ireland should support this bill. There's plenty of work in Ireland--the Irish Central Statistics Office reports over a thousand foreigners entering the country every week, the great majority of them for work purposes. So we shouldn't cooperate with the old Irish trick of running away from their country whenever things get a little tough. I'll certainly be lobbying my congressman to vote against any measure such as this. Down here in Dixie we've had quite enough illegal immigrants ever since Sherman moved in.

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