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US attracting more and more Irish undocumented

As recession bites many Irish heading for America

PATRICK COOPER,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, December 27, 2010, 7:08 AM

Updated Monday, December 27, 2010, 7:19 AM

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Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform says that the Irish emigrating to New York are finding work

Photo by New York Times

120,0000 people will leave Ireland in 2010 and 2011 new figures show. Many will be heading to the United States where local immigration activists say even those who are coming her illegally are getting work.

Ciaran Staunton, of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in New York told the Sunday Independent that illegals are coming to America in large numbers and getting work.

"We've all heard the stories about the hardships of people living illegally out here and what it's like but the truth is, if you want to get away from all the problems in Ireland at the moment, and pay your mortgage or your credit card bill or whatever it is for a few years, it can be done out here.

"There are jobs for people here even if they come over illegally." Celine Kennelly of the San Francisco Irish Immigration Pastoral Centre said most find work within days of arrival.

"None of the illegals here are out of work. They are all earning money and doing ok for themselves. There are problems for people if they want to stay here long term because every time you go home, you might not be allowed back into the country. You're not allowed to get a driver's licence and that causes a lot of problems for people.

She told the Sunday Independent that " in the short term it is an alternative that people can consider."

"Most people don't come here intending to settle down.

"They come over to get a job and make some money but then they meet someone and start a family or they get used to being here and it becomes their new home and it becomes harder to leave."

New statistics quoted in The Irish Times showed that in the 12 months to April 2010, 65,300 people left the country, a figure close to the 70,600 people who emigrated in 1989.

Most are bound for Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the US.

The US numbers are difficult to quantify because of the illegal issue but anecdotal evidence is strong that numbers of Irish are increasing significantly.

Nster.com

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34 Comments

15 - 34 | See all comments

GeorgeDillon | Dec 31, 2010, 02:29 AM EST

ancavker: The same thing seems to be happening in Ireland. It seems like in both countries there are lots of jobs, but for whatever reason they are not being taken up by the natives. In the case of the US, though, I think a lot of the jobs are in informal economies in the NorthEast, while the endemic unemployment is in the Mid West and South, areas where few Irish get to. There is no such pattern in Ireland, where you see lots of foreigners in the most remote villages. Still, the question does deserve a lot more study. Unfortunately our universities here and in Ireland are hand-in-hand with the immigration lobbies.

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ancavker | Dec 30, 2010, 10:06 AM EST

I still do not undestand how and where they are getting jobs here, with so many of our own unemployed.

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esatdigiwank | Dec 30, 2010, 05:46 AM EST

WK: as i'm looking at this now, comments scrolling down as far as the 27th are visible. any new posts i submit manifest shortly afterwards.

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STUMPTOWN | Dec 29, 2010, 06:17 PM EST

Any person that comes into a country unlawfully is a ILLEGAL. ILLEGALS are not only criminal but also a liblity of that given country. When one robs a bank, is that a undocumented withdrawal? CALL A SPADE A SPADE.

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WoundedKnee | Dec 29, 2010, 09:36 AM EST

esatdig: How do you manage to check posts after they appear? I'd like to know, as I occasionally miss a typo or whatever.

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esatdigiwank | Dec 29, 2010, 06:27 AM EST

Wounded Knee: "So you think that many Irish people know enough Irish to swear in the language? " oh for crying out loud! pls revert back to my first post;thats Not What I'm Saying!! I plainly said: "Indeed, we are even incapable of swearing/cursing through our own native tongue",,, our native tongue is or was Irish/Gaeilge, Gaelic..*HMPH* ! *fUME* aRE you incapable of d e c i p h e r i n g my point of view? purrrlease.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 28, 2010, 03:12 PM EST

MarthaAnne, good post. Unfortunately bigots and racists are not hard to find, especially among the Irish. On this site we have such posters, sirpeter aka antoman. This guy said he favored immigration, as long as it was of white people. No cabe duda, ese racista sirpeter/antoman es un hijo de puta. Que se friegue.

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MarthaAnne | Dec 28, 2010, 02:40 PM EST

Sorry, I spelled your name wrong - Madeleine.

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MarthaAnne | Dec 28, 2010, 02:39 PM EST

Kudos to Kevinhayes for challenging that bizarre and woefully uninformed post by Madeleine. Madeline, you don't even have your facts right. Is it too much trouble for you to learn the actual facts about the new health care legislation, even if you don't agree with it?

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MarthaAnne | Dec 28, 2010, 02:34 PM EST

OK, here goes: It was my grandparents who emigrated from Ireland, so I am really very American and not Irish. However, I love Irish people and the entire culture and don't judge the illegal immigrants from Ireland, not knowing each person's circumstances. But, what really bothers me is that, from reading most of the posts, some of the people who say they welcome the Irish illegal immigrants, or who say that there is plenty of work for them here, etc., in other words, not condemning them for coming here, well, some of these very same posters would not be so openly welcome to THE PEOPLE WHO COME FROM DESPERATE POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA. The people from Mexico and many parts of Central and South America are running from situations that are far worse than experienced in Ireland, even today, with the horrific debt crisis and unemployment. I really find it sickening to hear some Irish Americans - not necessarily here, but those I meet - who won't allow for passage of the Dream Act or a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants already here, but who might turn a blind eye to the illegal Irish immigrants. If the illegal immigrant speaks Spanish and has dark skin, oh, get rid of her! But, "we welcome the Irish, legal or not".

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WoundedKnee | Dec 28, 2010, 02:27 PM EST

seamusmoore has threatened me with being murdered by the IRA in South Armagh. I have reported seamusmoore's death threat made against me. I don't expect Irish Central to do much about it, because they allow this kind of abuse to fester unchecked until it goes to its logical extreme--a death threat by seamusmoore. However, regardless of Irish Central's failure to police this site, all posters should be aware of this death threat by seamus moore.

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kevinhayes | Dec 28, 2010, 12:14 PM EST

Madeline - "we had the best health care in the world until Obamacare which costs more than private care". Where to start with a typically really ignorant comment like that? It is so wrong on so many levels and sounds like a comment from someone who spends a dangerous amount of time listening to poisonous talk radio and the dis-information on Fox News. Suffice it to say, the comparison between Obamacare (which is private care) and private care cannot be made until 2014. Madeline, educate yourself on the topic and stop being another cog in the right wing lying propaganda machine. In 20 years the Republicans will not be calling it Obamacare and will be trying to claim it as their own.

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ancavker | Dec 28, 2010, 11:37 AM EST

monaghanjack: Really sad that so many Irish consider the language useless, but you are right, they do. Not only do they consider it useless, but they have utter contempt for it, as well as anythong Irish. So at the end of the day the English won. There may be a silly little republic in the south,anfd the bizzare little northern welfare statelet, but at the end of the day, the English won. In fact I would say, the Irish are more English than the English.

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WoundedKnee | Dec 28, 2010, 07:08 AM EST

esatdigiwank: So you think that many Irish people know enough Irish to swear in the language? You truly are living in a fool's fantasy.

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dan Breen | Dec 28, 2010, 06:48 AM EST

The mexicans have replace the Irish.

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