(Letters from the Irish Independent. People DO care!!!)
I find it hard to believe that the Taoiseach's remarks in Washington on the issue of illegal Irish immigrants in the US were deliberately contrived to damage their prospects of achieving legal status.
So I can only conclude that his comments on a potential amnesty were a display of his own monumental ignorance of the aims of the immigration reform lobby.
They have never sought an amnesty for Irish illegal immigrants.
They are aware that by doing so, they would likely alienate their key supporters in the US Congress.
The only people who have talked up the prospects of an amnesty have been the opponents of relevant immigration reform.
These include Democratic Party candidate Senator Barack Obama and his backers in the large US labour unions.
They deliberately raised it as a tactic to scare away the moderate support which the McCain/Kennedy plan had in Congress.
By raising this non-issue once more, the Taoiseach has given grist to the mill of the opponents of immigration reform.
Simultaneously he has delivered a kick in the teeth to the Irish in America, on St Patrick's Day, of all days.
BARRY WALSH
CLONTARF , DUBLIN 3
> I wish to make some observations about the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's comments (Irish Independent, March 18) on illegal Irish in America.
I spent a summer in Boston some years back, and I did not know or hear of any unemployed, illegal Irish person.
You may say that they have to work because they will not receive any benefits from the US government.
However, it was my experience that the kind of people who made their way to the United States only seem to want to work hard.
And they are doing jobs most Americans would prefer not to do.
The United States is more than happy to turn a blind eye to the Irish who do the hard labour illegally and contribute to an economy that the Irish have helped build over generations.
Maybe instead rolling over for the Americans, the Taoiseach could bring up the tiny issue of illegal rendition flights landing on Irish soil at Shannon Airport.
KEVIN THOMAS
BALDOYLE, DUBLIN 13
2 comments:
Can someone please explain why anyone would believe a single word that comes out of Bertie's mouth? Why would we assume that this man would have any grasp of a situation as complicated as the undocs in the US? Why would this man and his henchmen be in a position to come up with the best solution for the current undocs and the generations of Irish immigrants to come? This is a serious problem with serious consequences for this generation and those to come.
It is not a problem that can be solved with a ridiculous band-aid solution like he suggested with the "Super J1's." Anyway idiot can see that by doing that a whole new class of undocumented Irish citizen will be created. Its like giving Irish people a taste of something and then taking it away, telling them they cant have it any more. What if people like living in the US after their Super J1 is up? What do they do then? What about the age restrictions and the education restrictions that would be part of the Super J1? Give me a break, Bertie! This is a ridiculous suggestion, it will not solve anything at all, and will ultimately make things worse.
Why wont Bertie and his henchmen listen to people who do know what the are doing and what happens in the US? Why not listen to the ILIR, with all their experience and understanding of how the Morrison and Donnelly visas were created? Why not listen to them?
OR why not listen to Bruce Morrison, who has passed immigration legislation let us not forget, and who knows how DC works, who knows what is possible and what is not, who know who the real players are and who are not, and who can get this job done once and for all? Why wouldn't Bruce be the first person you would turn to?
But why would Bertie care really? It wont be his problem in a few more months, it takes the spotlight off his nefarious business dealings for a moment. After all, this is not a problem that can be solved by a brown paper bag of cash or a couple of lies and a cover-up, so its obviously not Bertie's forte.
I think you should get this blog out there in Ireland, put it on posters or something, not many comments here we need comments from there, keep up the good work and thanks!
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