In spite of a variety of concessions over many years, including the provision of Green visas, up to 50,000 undocumented Irish may still be living illegally in the US.
These people exist in a twilight world where a knock on the door can mean arrest and deportation as illegal aliens. It does not matter that many have become dynamic members of their adopted society, building businesses and creating wealth. If they are found to be living illegally in the US, they will be repatriated.
Undocumented Irish are not regarded as a pressing problem in a society where estimates of the number of illegal immigrants now range from eight to 14 million. But, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the introduction of new security laws, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many of them to remain undetected. The Real ID Act makes it almost impossible for undocumented workers to secure driving licences they may need to get to work. And there is concern that a Kennedy/McCain Bill, which has been designed to provide an amnesty for thousands of these workers, will not become law in time to protect some of them from arrest and deportation.
Four senior Fine Gael politicians are visiting Washington this week to lobby prominent US senators, members of congress and administration officials on their behalf. And the chairman of the Irish Bishops' Commission for Emigrants, Bishop Seamus Hegarty of Derry, will be making separate representations. There is a general recognition in the US of a need to address the problems facing long-term illegal immigrants and to provide them with a mechanism to regularise their status. The Taoiseach made representations on behalf of Irish workers before the Kennedy/McCain Bill was circulated. Earlier, President Bush had promised to create a class of legal "guest-worker", with mainly Hispanic people in mind, as a step towards applying for permanent residency.
The concerns and difficulties being experienced by Irish emigrants should help to shape debate in this society about how we treat foreign workers. Recent surveys have shown considerable majorities in favour of allowing non-nationals to stay, if they have been waiting for many years for their asylum applications to be processed. Majorities also believe such people should be allowed to work.
This State needs firm immigration laws and a functioning deportation system. But the structure must also be flexible and humane in order to respond to particular cases and to compensate for past administrative failures. In reviewing our immigration system and new work-permit legislation, the Government should keep the experiences of Irish emigrants in mind.