46 Comments

• paul0123 | Feb 29, 2012, 01:22 PM EST

  Definitions: "Emigrate"to leave one country or region to settle in another; migrate: to emigrate from Ireland to Australia. "Imigrate"to come to a country of which one is not a native, usually for permanent residence.

• Seanmor | Feb 28, 2012, 08:18 PM EST

  Madeline: I agree with what you say in your first sentence. The Native Americans are the true Americans because their ancestors were here 10,000 years before the first European set foot on these shores. However, my experience has been very different from what you state in the rest of your comment. Since I came here as a permanent resident a half century ago, the only ones who treat me in a supercilious manner are those who are only a generation or two removed from Ireland, especially my own first cousins. During my four years in theMarine Corps, my closest friends were Southern WASPs, who always accepted as an equal. But such was seldom thne case with Irish Catholics from the Norheast, many of whom perceived themselves to be superior to me becaus of where I came from. My wife was the widow of a Presbyterian minister when we first met and 2½ years later I married this Methodist woman whose ancestors lived in New England since the late 1600s. I have always been accepted as an equal by her relatives, even though they are better educated and wealthier than I. Finally, I want to state that loyal, law-abiding, tax-paying U.S.citizens should not be compelled to accept all foreigners who enter the U.S. illegally. We all must obey the laws of this great nation, in whose defense forces I'm very proud to have honorably served.

• Madeliene | Feb 28, 2012, 03:05 PM EST

  sorry Catholic

• Madeliene | Feb 28, 2012, 03:04 PM EST

  the only "true" Americans are the native indians- the rest of us are immigrants- My parents were born in Ireland and all of my ancestors/ they Loved America and worked HARD here.. but they felt prejudice at times- so did JFK when he aspired to be President " OMG AN IRISH CAYHOLIC" -- piss off all of you Ameircans who clainm the right to tell others where to live and what to do!

• Seanmor | Feb 25, 2012, 09:43 AM EST

  It is the immigrants from Irelandm past and present - the vast majority of us-who have and are having positive effect on the U.S. However, joycean makes an excellent point when he refers to the lack of opportunities in Ireland, especially the part of that country that is under the control of the Dáil. I don't know of anyone from Ireland, North or South, who ever took a job away from a U.S. citizen. My first job in NYC included cleaning urinals and toilet bowls, After 2 yeras of that work, I joined the Marine Corps and was honorably discharged 4 yeras later, but I was still finger-printed, photographed and investigated all over again before I became a citizen. I dearly love this great country and I also feel strong affection for Ireland, that whole nation, but I never felt the least loyality to the Partitionist gov't in the Dáil.

• joycean | Feb 25, 2012, 05:14 AM EST

  Ireland does not give America anything when her citizens immigrate. Ireland is an "old sow that eats her farrow." Her citizens have traditionally emigrated to seek better opportunities. It is time the Irish start creating opportunities for themselves at home, rather than taking opportunities from others already here.

• Seanmor | Feb 24, 2012, 09:50 PM EST

  The title of the above item reminds me of an Editorial I read in "The New York Daily News" in mid March of the late 1970s. It stated that Ireland [through her emmigrants] gave much more to the U.S. that the U.S. gave to Ireland. This Editorial was especially true regarding the contributions Irish natives made to this country in all the major conflicts, including America's War of Independence. Volumes have been written on this subject, but I'll only tell of one Irish emigrants experience (and the thanks he got for his honorable service. In the late 60s, I shared an apt. with a young erryman who had recently been recently discharged from the army but was still an Irish citizen. He obtained a fstate fishing license but was denied a permit to fish in the NYC resorvoirs, for lack of citizenship. No one even questioned him about citizenship when he was ordered to basic training' shipped out to Vietnam and sent on night patrols in the Viet Cong-infested jungles. Having survived a year of this dangerous activity, the Kerryman was NOT allowed to fish in the reservoirs.

• seanomelb | Feb 24, 2012, 09:41 PM EST

  Poor auld george as usual he misses the message I'll put it in a bottle for him and by the time he recieves the bottle the penny might drop.

• Seanmor | Feb 24, 2012, 09:17 PM EST

  The above article says a lot about immigrants, all of which is true, but it makes no distinction between those who legally entered the U.S. and abide by its laws and those who unlawfully came here and continue to violate our laws by living here illegally.

• irishcop025 | Feb 24, 2012, 03:02 PM EST

  Niall, What appened to the thousands of Visas that were granted to th Irish in the 1980's and 1990's? Oh that's right? They are back in Ireland!

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 24, 2012, 08:37 AM EST

  seanomel: "Let's remove all the immigrants from the USA". OK, but first let's remove all the immigrants from Australia. You, for starters.

• joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 07:38 PM EST

  There are many illegal Irish immigrants in this country. The United States, like most other countries, limits immigrants and has since the 1920s. The difference is in the quotas which will change. This country has the third largest population of any country in the world already, after China and India. We are not able to employ or provide services to all the people currently here.There are 312million people here, of which 2.5 million are American Indians. For some reason, mostly to confuse the issue, people like to bring up Indians. BTW, Hispanics also have Native American ancestors. Hispanics make up the largest goup of immigrants, 50740,089, 16.40%, and increasing every day through illegal border crossings.

• seanomelb | Feb 23, 2012, 06:59 PM EST

  Let's remove all the immigrants from the USA (legal or illegal) and watch the economy slide into a depression.

• IrishAncestor | Feb 23, 2012, 06:05 PM EST

  Pardon me if I'm missing something, but aren't Americans all immigrants? What axe is being ground here? The only people with a right to this argument are the indigenous North American tribes.

• pattbaa | Feb 23, 2012, 05:31 PM EST

  Greenwich Connecticut USA---What most troubles Americans is ILLEGAL immigration, and if any Irish are gulity of this , their number is miniscule and not worthy of attention , compared to Hispanics who numbers in the TENS OF MILLIONS!!!.-- If you believe confronting this problem is "Racist" simply because the illegals are non-white ,and if you oppose the enforcement of immigrations laws and the adherence to them because mostly non-whites would be effected , then you are arguing for a preferential ," above-the-Law" treatment of a class of people dependent upon their race; i.e. , the law cannot be applied to certain types of people who are given a privilege" to be exempt from the law because ot their ethnicity.-- Alexander Cockburn,the son of a British Communist , expresses his virulent hatred of the United States in general and the American people in particular in his column in the "Nation" magazine. No surprise that a ultra far-left Brit would despise everthing the United States stands for , but where does the hypocrite LIVE!!! -- that's right , you guessed it!!-- OBTW , the $3.000.000 per-year career of baseball pitcher John Rocker nearly ended simply because he said "I'm not a big fan of foreigners". -- Free Speech in America is longer "Free" .

• joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 03:43 PM EST

  In this country, we are just beginning to see the end of social engineering to "correct" racism. My children were bussed to school to create racially balanced schools; the Boston Irish neighborhoods were distroyed. There is a case before the Surpreme Court on whether race should be considered in college admissions. So a rich black kid gets preference over a poor white kid. We have seen enough Affirmative Action. When O'Dowd insists that we "owe" something to immigrants or the Irish, I have had quite enough. Help people who are in poverty, out-of-work, ill, old. Never mind what race.

• joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 03:25 PM EST

  ciara, there was a book titled "How the Irish Became White." The title is serious. In the 19th Century, White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants saw the Irish as unevolved simians, indistinquishable from blacks. Professionals in England, Germany, America believed races had different levels of development. The theory was the basis of Nazi Germany's quest for an Arian race and Final Solution of wiping out Jews; and the theory behind segregating blacks and whites in the US. When someone on this site whines about NIMA, that is his point. In Ireland there were two phases. The first claimed the Irish were unevolved. Toward the end of the 19th Cent. with the rise of Irish nationalism, the Abbey Theater, GAA, resurrecting the Irish language, Irish nationslists claimed "Irish" was indeed a race,Celts. Another twist on this is Post-Colonialism: belief that 19th Cent. Colonialist nations are responsible for harm caused their former colonies: ie.those insisting the Famine was genocide.

• ciaradexy | Feb 23, 2012, 11:11 AM EST

  Joycean, what are you talking about? Irish people in the UK dont scream racism! Irish people and the Brits are completely integrated both here, in the UK and in my experience ,in Australia and New Zealand too! Anywhere I visit in the world where there are Irish people, they will ALWAYS be hanging out with the Brits! Every single one of my mates here has British mates. There is no animosity.

• joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 08:57 AM EST

  bogsidebunny, I have a theory that the Irish like to scream "racism" because it works if their are immigrants in Engalnd. I've lived with enough of the results of Black-White (including Irish) racial conflict to be tired of it. In this country, we are the bad guys. Let's not start another round.

• joycean | Feb 23, 2012, 08:48 AM EST

  like2tweet, I have. My grandparents came from Ireland. My grandfather worked on the railroad. But, The United States didn't bring him here as a slave. It took him in and gave him the opportunity to live a better life here. He worked hard, but Irish Americans are the big, big winners in this country because they came at the time when this country was expanding, there were jobs. Their children and grandchildren received college educations, and are now among the best educated and wealthiest Americans. Growth in this country has slowed, and we need to concetrate on the 312million people here.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 23, 2012, 02:50 AM EST

  greensod: "Lets get an opinion from the American indians on this one. I forgot,their opinion was never asked for." Right on. Just like the opinion of the 17th-century Irish was never asked about the Plantations. Oh, wait a minute. Just like the 21st century Irish were never asked about Mass Immigration either!

• like2tweet | Feb 22, 2012, 07:57 PM EST

  Joycean have yu ever read who built the transcontinental railroad-- the irish and the Chinese, the Americans could not hack the back breaking work. Have you ever read about the 250,000 irish who fought for the Union in the Civil War, have you ever read that the greatest number of medal of honor winners are the irish, have you ever read about No irish Need Apply... read your history mate

• joycean | Feb 22, 2012, 07:45 PM EST

  What "racism" is O'Dowd talking about? I live in the South, and "racism" here refers to African-American discrimination. But Africann-Americans were among the first settlers, they are not emigrants. Africans coming to this country do not have the argument that the United States owes reparations for past sins against their forefathers. Hispanics claim parts of the South West were stolen from Mexicans. One group that has no right to claim "racism" is the Irish. The Famine Irish came here during the Industrial Revolution and profitted from the country's need for a large pool of labor. Ireland did not send them to help out. The descendants of those Irish have been repaid for their labor through the opportunities their children received. The United States owes the Irish nothing.

• ConnieCobe | Feb 22, 2012, 07:28 PM EST

  I get real tired of hearing this poor me mentality. Really? I have not heard one person ever comment negatively about the Irish coming here to work. I believe they have alot to offer my country and I also believe Americans can and do offer alot to Ireland as well. Can't we all just play nice?

• JohnKinMD | Feb 22, 2012, 07:12 PM EST

  I have a problem with illegals.

• greensod | Feb 22, 2012, 05:20 PM EST

  Lets get an opinion from the American indians on this one.O I forgot,their opinion was never asked for.

• seanomelb | Feb 22, 2012, 05:06 PM EST

  Georgy boy is playing the racist card again and again and.......

• irishpjk | Feb 22, 2012, 05:05 PM EST

  The old time Irish helped make this country great, todays Irish coming over want to collect on what the think is owed to that group.

• sirpeter | Feb 22, 2012, 04:23 PM EST

  Yeah!! Georgie Boy. Stop you're racist anti-emigrant sentiment.You're upsetting my British milkman and my Polish house cleaner.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 22, 2012, 04:09 PM EST

  rpbrown: "how difficult Ireland's immigration policies are as well." You made the mistake of telling them you are an American. You should have purchased a Nigerian passport (easily available for 50 bucks in Dublin) and gone back to Irish Immigration screaming "Wacists!" They'd have given you a free house and an Irish passport in no time.

• GeorgeDillon | Feb 22, 2012, 04:04 PM EST

  O'Dowd: When you made your earlier slurs about Numbers USA quite a few members of the organization posted ripostes to your falsehoods. How come you haven't apologized yet? And by the way there is a mountain of evidence that you're flat wrong, immigrants do take jobs and are a drag on the economy--see the research of Harvard professor George Borjas for example. A settled and mature economy such as ours--or Ireland's--does not need high rates of immigration. Those days are long gone in the case of the US, and never existed in the case of Ireland.

• irishcop025 | Feb 22, 2012, 02:47 PM EST

  Niall, you know as well as I do this generation of Irish only want Green cards so the can come and go as they please.

• christilcaugh | Feb 22, 2012, 01:55 PM EST

  But I believe that there still is anti-Irish, as well as any anti-immigrants feelings here from those who have been here longer. And some experience it as a real chance to change, I know some of them.

• CarolMaske | Feb 22, 2012, 12:49 PM EST

  Aw come on! I've lived here 67 years and all over the place, and have yet to encounter any anti-Irish sentiment. Most Americans wish they were of Irish heritage and run out and buy anything they can find that's green in March. Mountain out of a molehill!

• FastEddy | Feb 22, 2012, 12:43 PM EST

  Make that "Legal Emigrants give far more to America than they take ..."

• BrendanDunphy | Feb 22, 2012, 12:33 PM EST

  Niall, while I tend to agree with much of the article, we probably should distinguish between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL ones. What part of the word "illegal" are they not understanding? Play by the rules, as my Irish grandparents did, and you are still very welcome in the USA.

• kilgara | Feb 22, 2012, 12:28 PM EST

  My experience with todays' immigrants is that they differ from past generations in that they consider this country as a way to make a quick buck{legally or illegally and then to return home.Whereas past immigrants had little or no hope or desire to return home so they strove to become more "American" than the next guy and thus were much more substantial assetts to this country than the present crop of mostly ungrateful rip-off artists.

• rpbrown | Feb 22, 2012, 11:46 AM EST

  Niall, there are plenty of Americans, myself included who welcome immigrants and realize they actually create jobs not take them away (and when population falls jobs are lost). What I don't think you realize is how difficult Ireland's immigration policies are as well. I had a horrid, life crushing experience by the hands of Irish immigration authorities. I was approved to stay and continue my life in Ireland and then suddenly they yanked it away from me without reason and sent me back to America. The trauma goes both ways bud.

• Murph46 | Feb 22, 2012, 11:26 AM EST

  Niall my family emigrated to Nova Scotia ,couldn't take the oath of fealty to the Crown to get land there ,and came to the USA legally.I have absolutely no beef with legal entry.We have a party that won't do anything about illegal immigration and the bad feelings spill over about allimmigration.

• Colliegirl | Feb 22, 2012, 11:13 AM EST

  Immigrants never came with the intention of building up this country. They came to escape intolerable conditions in their own countries or because they saw this as the land of opportunities. The fact that they wanted to make good lives for themselves and they worked for it had the RESULT of building up this country. My Irish ancestors didn't come here at a time when they had to apply and wait years for possible approval (if they had to wait they would have been dead of starvation). They just had to be free of communicable disease and to register. We need a reform of today's immigration process so that decent people with the same intentions as our ancestors can come, register, and be part of the life of this country. The statement that "illegals" don't want to be self-reliant contributors to society is not born out by my experience.

• kelauggie1 | Feb 22, 2012, 10:41 AM EST

  Niall, you are getting worse instead of better. The federal government sets quotas for legal immigration - which is an honor for those making it through the red tape maze. It is NOT racist to disagree with allowing illegal immigration and, in fact, coddling these lawbreakers with unearned benefits. There are many factual reports that show the cost to taxpayers of illegals FAR outweighs the benefits they bring. How about if a few of them move in with you - just pay for their food and housing and medical bills and children's education while they work under the table. Deal?

• johnshiel | Feb 22, 2012, 10:41 AM EST

  excellent piece, niall. also excellent points made by first two posters. so many of our controversies become so much simpler when speakers are more honest and less hamhanded. niall, you probably didn't intend the hamhand part, but the contributions and implications of legal immigrants seem remarkablyy diferent from those of illegals. clarity, clarity.

• donal1951 | Feb 22, 2012, 10:05 AM EST

  Niall, My father stepped off the boat onto Ellis Island in 1928, a legal immigrant for what it's worth. From the stories he told, it appeared there was no lengthy period where he went without a job, some good, some not so good, and some, granted, obtained with the help of NYC politicians friendly to the Irish. While he was a loyal American, he never lost his love for Ireland and went home to die and be buried in the family plot in Ballinasloe. RIP, da.

• crny925 | Feb 22, 2012, 10:00 AM EST

  Niall, you; like my parents (who emigrated in the 1950's) followed legal protocol... that is the difference here... America is a melting pot of immigrants and should be embraced as my parents did and you certainly seem to have done so.

• like2tweet | Feb 22, 2012, 08:09 AM EST

  A lot of the vitriol by groups like Numbers USA is aimed at legal immigrants Joseph

• JosephOCasey | Feb 22, 2012, 06:41 AM EST

  Niall, why is it that you and others who claim to be pro immigrant never differentiate between legal and illegal immigration? And you further damage your cause by calling those who want out immigration laws to be followed out as racists. I know of nobody who opposes LEGAL IMMIGRATION, especially by those coming here to contribute to our society rather than take from it. While it may be true that you came here to be a self reliant contributor, most ILLEGALS do not. Stop with the disingenuous labeling and tell the truth. You'll find a bit more agreement with honesty instead of leftist spin.