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.
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