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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Joe Biden challenges Irish Americans to help undocumented Hispanics become legal - Says discrimination against Irish generations ago same as against Hispanics today

Posted on Friday, March 22, 2013 at 08:04 AM

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Vice President Joe Biden speaking on Thursday at
Irish American Hall of Fame event

Joe Biden threw down a challenge to Irish Americans to come in behind the Hispanic lobby and seek immigration reform because of the shared history of discrimination against the two groups.

Speaking in New York on Thursday at the Irish America Hall of Fame hosted by our sister publication Irish America magazine, Biden challenged Irish Americans to remember their own pasts and to use that knowledge to fight discrimination today.

He quoted from a rabidly anti-Irish editorial from 1892 in The New York Times depicting the Irish as drunks and thieves. He also stated that the Ku Klux Klan was founded to smear Irish Catholics as well as blacks.

He stated that that type of hatred was still alive in anti immigrant sentiment against Hispanics and others today and that the Irish needed to help combat it.

"There are 11 million [undocumented] Hispanics, who by the way, are just as proud, just as noble, care just as much about their families as we do," Biden said. "Like our forbears, they possess overwhelming potential to build this great country. But today we are facing the most existential moment and we must ask ourselves: What do we stand for? What kind of nation are we? And perhaps most importantly, what kind of nation are we going to be become?"

Nominating speech for Joe Biden for Irish America Hall of Fame

Biden recalled Irish leader Enda Kenny pointing out over St.Patrick’s Day that Ireland had 50,000 undocumented today and had said to him, "Mr. Vice President imagine not being able to come home for your mother's funeral and knowing you'll never be able to come back,” Biden recalled. "It's not just the Irish. That's a circumstance—not only for Irish undocumented—but Latinos, Asians and others."

Joe Biden s said the 50,000 undocumented Irish should to be brought “out of the shadows,” and they and other “undocumented” in the US “should be entitled to earn a path to citizenship.”

“They are Americans but they are not citizens – they are undocumented. We need to find a fair and effective and decent way to take them out of the shadows,” Biden said.

The system was broken, he said, and “needs to be fixed.”

Biden’s speech to an audience of 300 Irish American leaders was a direct challenge to them to get involved in the issue. As such it was a very brave clarion call by a leading Irish American who did not fear to push his own ethnic group to do more on the controversial issue.

He also stated that U.S. immigration policy was truly lacking when it allowed 40,000 PHD’s a year to leave the country after graduation. “Maybe one of those PHD’s could find a cure for Alzheimers” he stated.

Much of his speech was devoted to his Irish background and how intensely proud of that heritage he was.

He remembered his mother telling him never to feel he was not equal to everyone else and spending long hours with him teaching him Yeats poems to recite as he fought a stuttering problem.

On a lighter note, Biden, told what inauguration in the Hall of Fame meant to him.

"I would never dream that I would be in this position," Biden said. "I'm not surprised that I am vice president, but I am surprised that I am in the Irish Hall of Fame."

Here's the full video of Joe Biden's speech:

See more: Irish Politics , Irish News Blog , Irish News , Irish in New York , Irish immigration , Irish in US Politics , Irish Democrats , Irish American

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e_lizabeth | May 11, 2013, 01:12 PM EDT

Just how stupid does Biden think Irish Americans are, anyway? Why doesn't he just come out and say "Let's have a big amnesty and you can support these people and give them your jobs?" Unlike other immigrants, many of these folks don't want to become Americans. The legal immigrants who are already waiting forever get pushed to the back of the line... but Biden will get more democratic voters...

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Barry | Apr 07, 2013, 06:19 PM EDT

Strictly speaking, the United States may have been founded by Europeans (although it was really the British and not the Irish, the German, the Italians, etc. who founded it). However, the native people were NOT European, they were of Asian origin. And like I said in my last post, where were the visas for African nationals based on the percentage of black Americans?

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CeltNYC | Apr 07, 2013, 05:23 PM EDT

Barry: The National Origins Immigration Bill was a realist bill and only a fool would deem it "racist." You are a useful idiot as you'd never criticize India, Nigeria or China's immigration policies. The nation was founded by Europeans so thus it makes sense to have bills to preserve the founding peoples of the United States. The 1965 immigration act, which was sponsored by anti-European racist Emmanuel Cellar, has been a slow genocide against the founding people of America. Barry you are sickening in your support of clear bigotry.

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Barry | Mar 26, 2013, 06:59 AM EDT

@Seanmor: You ask what was wrong with the National Origins Immigration Bill. Well, in a nutshell it was racist and was designed to keep out non-European people. Most of the United States' white population one hundred years ago were only recent blow-ins themselves as opposed to being the native population of the Americas anyway so why should people from their national/racial backgrounds be favoured over others, paying no heed to people's character, level of education, etc.? Also, where were the visas for Africans based on the percentage of Blacks in the American population??

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Seanmor | Mar 25, 2013, 08:41 PM EDT

It is my understanding that the National Origins Immigration Bill was enacted about a century ago. This meant that permanent visas would be granted to nations based on the national ancestry of America's popualtion at that time. Those who passed this legislation wanted future U.S. citizens to look very much like the Americans of their time. What was wrong with this idea?

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howareya | Mar 25, 2013, 04:07 PM EDT

Okay, I'm saying this again! When the Irish immigrated, they had to go through a health check and have a sponsor that would provide for them if they couldn't for themselves. The majority of them could not wait to become citizens and proud Americans. My father came through Ellis Island and promptly was drafted and sent to France in WW1. I remember them and my inlaws proudly wearing the American flag pins on their lapels. The influx of Mexican and South and Central Americans is nothing like the influx of Europeans in the past. The majority of them don't want to learn English, don't want to become citizens. I am all for helping others but are we defeating our own now? We can't take care of the poor that are legal/citizens! How are we going to take care of the poor of the world? There are millions of poor people that would love to come here. The poor people in Uganda and Sudan that are being slaughtered. The poor in China and Korea and Eastern European Countries. Why are they not let in as well? I liken this influx of poor to be similar to the lifeboats of the Titanic. Some were full and people around were drowning. If they let them on board, the whole lifeboat would drown. I feel sorry for the people that come here for a better life, but we can't support everyone..not even our own! Mexico has no incentive to help their poor when they can dump them on the U.S. And if you think the illegals are only taking jobs no one else wants you are living in a fantasy land. They are in construction, landscaping, manufacturing etc. etc. And anytime anyone has an opinion against illegal immigration, they are labeled as a racist. Come on people!

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Seanmor | Mar 25, 2013, 10:03 AM EDT

A few of these posts seem to suggest that an immigrant with a permanent visa who does not become a U.S. citizen is not quite as loyal to the nation as he shuld be, but I don't agree with such an argument. Before I became a citizen, I honorably served 4 years in the Marine Corps and in the month of January each of those years I was required to register as a resident alien. Failure to do so would have put my visa at risk. My HONARABLE discharge did NOT in any way speed up my application for citizenship. I was finger printed, photographed and investigated for 6 weeks before my application was approved. Now I don't understand why so many people want to grant immediate amnesty and fast citizenship to 12 million ILEGALS who never served a day in the military.

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Smyrnian | Mar 25, 2013, 07:56 AM EDT

Eireamach - on re- reading my last post perhaps I was not as polite as I meant to be. Apologies. My point is simply that I have known a great many Irish and Italian immigrants in the US and, though they were here legally and fully documented, they chose never to apply for US citizenship. My own brother in law is one if those. Cheers!

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Smyrnian | Mar 25, 2013, 07:51 AM EDT

Eireamach - stick to the point I made please without wandering off into a subject I never addressed. I repeat what I said, just because someone did not apply for citizenship does not mean they are here illegally. That is a true statement and contradicts what you had said earlier. That's all I said. Stick to the point. I offered no opinions about Mexicans or Irish or anyone else.

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eiriamach | Mar 25, 2013, 07:46 AM EDT

Some people here draw very fine distinctions which are not at all clear to me. Perhaps someone can explain. I've crossed the Mexican border many times, usually to shop, sometimes to do touristy things, usually on foot, sometimes driving. Always I returned to the USA. I've known many Mexicans who cross the border in buses or cars or on foot 5 or 6 days each week to work or attend school in the USA. Sometimes they find better work and a place to live, and they stay as "undocumented," just as my immigrant Irish ancestors (and most 19th century Irish immigrants) stayed, worked, had families, died and were buried in the USA, without ever becoming citizens. You say the Mexicans are "illegal" but my Irish ancestors were "legal"? The only difference I see between the Mexicans and my ancestors is ethnicity. What fine legal point am I missing here?

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Seanmor | Mar 24, 2013, 10:21 PM EDT

I would never put immigrants who came here with pemanent visas in the same boat with those who ILLEGALLY entered the U.S. Nor would I expect a traffic cop to treat drivers who have a license, regristration and insurance the same as drivers who do NOT have any such documents.

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curtisjohnson | Mar 24, 2013, 08:02 PM EDT

@kaydog1 "ENTRY into a country comes 1st, is authorized(LEGAL) or not(ILLEGAL), and does NOT require citizenship. Citizen status comes later, or not, as the LEGALLY admitted individual chooses. ILLEGALS do not presently have an option to apply for citizenship." Not always true - an illegal immigrant can ultimately be granted citizenship through marriage to a citizen or through a child born in the country. In either case, however, it is a long process and not guaranteed. Maybe you should have some idea what you're talking about before calling someone else stupid.

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cherlyntargett | Mar 24, 2013, 06:26 PM EDT

Love my job, since i have been transportation in $82h… I sit reception, music enjoying whereas I add front of my new iMac that I got currently that i am creating it online,, -- Buzz80.ℂOℳ

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usacelt1 | Mar 24, 2013, 04:14 PM EDT

Joe Biden is polluted by his left-wing ideology. The Irish did not have the President, the top leadership brass of the Congress, countless governors and massive numbers of social organizations pushing for their rights. The Left seems to misunderstand the adjective illegal. Simply put, illegal means "against the law." Shocking, yes? These millions entered our country illegally meaning against the law. A good pro-American government would not reward law-breaking.

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kaydog1 | Mar 24, 2013, 03:56 PM EDT

Ah 'eiriamach', now I can see why people speak of the Irish as 'thickheaded'. ENTRY into a country comes 1st, is authorized(LEGAL) or not(ILLEGAL), and does NOT require citizenship. Citizen status comes later, or not, as the LEGALLY admitted individual chooses. ILLEGALS do not presently have an option to apply for citizenship.

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