Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform responds to NY Times

Niall O'Dowd, the chair of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in New York, has a spirited reply to yesterday's New York Times article critiquing his group's efforts. In a letter to the editor published today, O'Dowd says that he is sorry the journalist didn't stay for the group's full meeting, as he might have heard uncodumented immigrants describing the difficulties of their plight; O'Dowd describes two women, one who held "a wake without a body" in the Bronx to mourn her brother, killed in a car crash in Ireland, and the other who relayed the sadness of her aging parents as they prepare to spend another Christmas without their daughter.
O'Dowd says:

He might have also heard that out of 1.2 million green cards issued last year, Ireland got about 2,000, and that there is no legal way for the Irish to emigrate here anymore.

These are serious issues, and ones that my organization was set up to address. We make no apology for doing so, the same as the Hispanic or any other lobby should make no apology for advocating for its people.

O'Dowd adds that the organisation has a good working relationship with other ethnic groups through membership in umbrella group Comprehensive Immigration Reform Now.

Read the letter on the New York Times site.

NY Times article examines Irish lobbying efforts

The Irish movement for immigration reform is covered in an opinion piece that appears in both Saturday's New York Times and today's International Herald Tribune. Titled "How green was my rally", the article by New York Times editorial board member Lawrence Downes takes a critical look at the Irish lobbying effort.

Downes quotes Senator Charles Schumer as telling a rally of Irish in the Bronx, "The more Irish there are in America, the better we all are". He notes that high-profile politicians regularly visit declining Irish-American neighborhoods, with the 50,000 Irish among the 12 million illegal immigrants in the US commanding a relatively large amount of attention.

Downes calls for a sense of inclusion in his concluding paragraphs:

[Schumer] is far from the only politician to be drawn to the white, English-speaking sliver of the immigration problem. That fondness for Irish audiences helps reinforce the odd sense of solipsism surrounding the Irish immigrant lobby. When you hear the chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, Niall O'Dowd, vow to fight "to get what is rightfully ours" — more visas for the Irish — you can't help wondering how quickly such words would get a Latino banished to the militant fringe.

"We Are America" is the Latinos' and Asians' cry. The well-organized Irish don't feel the need to say that. Their slogan, on T-shirts and the Irish Lobby's Web site, is blunt: "Legalize the Irish."

The Irish have a just cause, but I only wish they and their many friends would preach the gospel of immigration reform in a bigger tent. It is, after all, every immigrant group's fate to start out in this country unloved, as the Irish are only too eager to remind us.

The Sunday New York Times, where this article first appeared, is one of the most influential newspapers in the country.

See the article in the New York Times or the International Herald Tribune

US strips naturalised citizen of citizenship

The issue of the deportation of naturalised US citizens came up in a recent discussion with Éan members. Your correspondent did not realise that taking up citizenship was not an iron-clad guarantee against deportation from the US.

In fact, while US citizens cannot be deported, a naturalised US citizen can be stripped of his citizenship and then deported. The US government is currently trying to deport Haitian-born Lionel Jean-Baptiste, a 58-year-old former restaurant owner who served seven years on drug charges. He was arrested and convicted of the offence after he became a citizen; he still maintains his innocence. Government officials stripped him of his citizenship because, they said, his conviction demonstrated that he was not of "good moral character".

Haiti refuses to accept Jean-Baptiste, saying that he is no longer a citizen under their constitution. The US then asked France to take him, but they refused. News reports say the US is going to turn next to the Dominican Republic. Jean-Baptiste has been in dentetion since June.

An administrative review will be held tomorrow. This is the first time since 1962 that a naturalised citizen has been ordered to be deported following a drug conviction.

The International Herald Tribune has more on the case.
The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition has a good page of information covering deportation.

Emigrants' NY memoirs published by Aisling Center

"While Mem'ry Brings Us Back Again" is a volume of memoirs by Irish emigrants who moved to the U.S. between 1927-1964. Compiled by Frances Browner, organizer of the Aisling Center’s “Young at Heart” group, the book details the experiences of 35 different individuals from 18 different counties.

“Far from their families, friends and everything they were used to. Every one of them overcame homesickness and the challenges of a new world and built fine lives for themselves in this great country,” said Tim O’Connor, Consul General of Ireland, at the launch of the book on November 28. “These stories will delight, absorb and uplift you. They also underline again the amazing story of the Irish in America and just how good this country has been to millions of our people."

Browner says of the emigrants' recollections: “I was transported back 50 years and plunged into a place that was already forgotten by the time of my own arrival in 1987. Why did I not know all this before? Putting this book together may help keep these memories alive for future generations of Irish Americans to know what it was like to be a new arrival.”

New York's Daily News carries a report on last week's launch, in which it profiles Frank Bergin, an 82-year-old who moved to NY just before the 1929 stock market crash. He recounts being shot in Alsace in 1945 while fighting in World War II; he went on to become the president of the Irish Business Organisation of New York and still works selling real estate.

Order the book at the Aisling Center website.

There's a 30-minute documentaryon the project and its launch available on YouTube. (Well worth watching!)

Society of Physiotherapists raises emigration issue

The Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists has issued a press release headlined, "Minister urged to halt forced emigration of Irish physiotherapy graduates".

The organisation says that it welcomes increased public health service funding in yesterday's Budget, but says, however, that increased funding "will come too late for physiotherapy graduates who are currently facing the prospect of emigration due to serious planning failures in the health service".

The ISCP says it is "gravely concerned" about the employment position of new graduates, noting that 71 (45%) of the 150 new graduates are either unemployed or working in unrelated jobs. The organisation suggests a number of recommendations "to address this crisis before new graduates are forced to emigrate".

Read the press release.

Justice for Immigrants newsletter

The Justice for Immigrants campaign, a Catholic church group advocating US immigration reform, has published its December newsletter. This issue gives an update of the campaign and the effect of the US elections, giving tips for legislative advocacy. The newsletter profiles the National Council of Catholic Women in its "Participating Organisations Showcase", and highlights the campaign's work in San Jose, California.

The newsletter also provides details on National Migration Week, which will be held January 7-13, 2007.

Read the newsletter at the Justice for Immigrants website.

Cork IT group invites returnees

A networking organisation for IT professionals in the Cork region, IT@Cork, is offering itself as a tool for returning emigrants to ease their integration back into local industry. The organisation recently published an article entitled "Support for Returning Emigrants" on its website.

The article addresses how organisations are looking to returning Irish emigrants as a way of address hiring shortages in the IT industry; it also outlines some of the tax benefits that returnees can avail of. It notes that "11% of all 'High Potential Startup Projects' funded by Enterprise Ireland were started by returning emigrants".

The article concludes with encouragement:

If you are considering returning home, the employment prospects could not be better. The Irish IT industry is a stable and mature industry, where experience and expertise are rewarded. A number of agencies, both public and private, are there to help you with the transition, whether that be to join an existing company or to assist you in setting up your own company. If you haven’t thought of moving back, maybe now is time to give it some consideration.

Read the article on the it@Cork website.
Visit the it@cork website.

Migration Policy Institute explores US immigration reform

The Migration Policy Institute explores the effects of the November elections in the US in its Policy Beat this month. It notes that many analysts believe the chance for immigration reform have improved, and that

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who is likely to lead the Senate subcommittee on immigration, has already begun to work with Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) to make plans for a new bill to be introduced early next year.

The bill will probably resemble the one the Senate approved last May.

The Policy Beat also includes information on the redesign of the Citizenship Test, new security measures, and the upcoming hikes in immigration fees.

Read the Policy Beat.

Migration Policy Institute names its global top 10

The Migration Policy Institute's "Migration Information Source" has named the "Top 10 Migration Issues of 2006". The top issue was a shift in many government's policies from multiculturalism to assimilation; next came the UN's High-Level dialogue on International Migration and Development, the first time UN ever hosted a multilateral discussion on the topic.

Coming in third was US immigration reform; the Source says, "Better luck next year". It notes, "The United States has not come much closer to President Bush's vision of immigration reform although events in 2006 may have changed the political climate in which immigration will be debated next year."

See the rest of the Top 10 at the Migration Information Source website.

Earlier this year, the Source produced a special issue on The Second Generation - well worth a look. It examines the experience of second-generation adult immigrants in the US.

Greg Delanty: emigrant laureate

Colum McCann, the Dublin-born, New York-based writer, appears in the weekend section of the Irish Times today praising the work of poet Greg Delanty. Greg Delanty, born in Cork and living in Vermont, is one of Ireland's best-known emigrant poets. This year he published "Collected Poetry, 1986 - 2006". Born in 1958, Delanty has lived in the US for twenty years.

Colum McCann says,

I was delighted to see Greg Delanty's 'Collected Poems'. Delanty has cataloged an entire generation and its relationship to exile. He is the laureate of those of us who have gone.