May 7, 2008
Irish Try Their Luck at Special Immigration Status
Some immigrant advocates are upset that Irish PM Bertie Ahern is trying to establish a special status for Irish immigrants in the United States.
While different immigrant groups try to keep a unified front, Ahern was in Washington, DC last week, to meet with the Bush administration and legislators to forge an agreement. Advocates for Irish immigrants believe more Irish nationals should be allowed to stay, after years of preference to people from countries with unstable political environments and extreme poverty.
However, the Sun reports many Hispanic immigrants feel their plight is more urgent, with parents being separated from their American-born children. And even US-Ireland Alliance head Trina Vargo wrote in the Irish Times that it's worth recalling the old "no Irish need apply" signs: "It would be wrong for the Irish now to suggest that 'no Mexican need apply'."
The political stakes are high. Some Irish immigrants who are now naturalized citizens of the U.S. have expressed lifelong allegiance to the Democratic Party because of the 1989 immigration lottery, which favored well-organized groups like the Irish, who were able to fill out dozens of entries per person, and travel to DC to deliver them early and often.
NYC - Battery Park City: Irish Hunger Memorial, by wallyg at flickr
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Trina Vargo can shut the fuck up.
Sorry won't happen. The Government shouldn't play favorites. What an asinine idea.
The Irish are already known for being drunkards, now they want to be known as being 'special' too? We don't have enough short buses.
While I don't think that there should be special status, "No Irish Need Apply" was discrimination by private employers.. it had nothing to do with immigration policy.
What's the story with the picture of the stone house?
The stone house is the Irish Hunger Memorial. It's in Battery Park City, near Vesey Street.
"While I don't think that there should be special status"
"The Government shouldn't play favorites. "
Get hip!
The govt has been playing favorites with all sorts of immigrant groups for years, both pro and con.
The 1965 Immigration Act mostly excluded Irish and other northen Europeans at the benefit of Asians. (Just as the 1923 Exclusion Act did the opposite.)
In the 70s, Soviet Jewry (now known as the Russian Mafia) got preferential visas in the tens of thousands.
Cubans have been getting special treatment for decades, yet poverty-ridden Haiti, just a few miles away, gets none.
At least the Irish carry American flags and signs in English, unlike the Hispanics with their sea of Mexican flags and unintelligible gibberish on the placards.
As the daughter of Irish immigrants who came here legally in the 1960s, I'm not in favor of this proposal, which offers special status to illegal immigrants. (Gothamist, please revise the first paragraph of this post--this proposal relates solely to illegal immigrants. Please don't lump legal and illegal immigrants together.)
The barriers to entering the US legally are high, and I have no respect for those that try to circumvent the system. My cousin entered the US legally about 10 years ago and just recently got permanent residency, notwithstanding the fact that her daughter is a US citizen and her husband, from another European country, received permanent residency about 4 years ago.
Being that the Irish economy, as part of the EU, has performed quite nicely the past 10+ years, WTF would an Irish person want to come over here and be a US citizen? Its not the 3rd world country it used to be...
Just because an economy is doing well on a macro level does not mean that every person in that country is doing well.
thefacts: two (or 5, or 10) wrongs don't make a right.. and I don't think the language of protest signs matters in any way.
Even so, the government should move away from such official characterizations.
All immigrants are a little bit special.
up Kerry!
Tiocfaidh ár lá!
You should shut the fuck up, too, Kojak. Racist prick.
The laws are so fucked up anyway...
Do you know that there are no illegal cubans in the US? Yeah, not one, because if you are cuban and enter the US, you're given a greencard on the spot... well, not really on the spot, but that's the idea.
I say we build a wall on our border with Ireland.
Lighten up bernie, and wash some of that sand out of your Vag.
To say that the Irish like to drink is like saying the sky is blue, water is wet.
The immigration lottery is cruel and should be stopped. Of the tens of millions of possible applicants, about 50,000 will win a green card. This is not serving the national interest, anymore. The idea was to have immigration diversity, but since we really have just about every ethnic group on the planet represented, let's stop wasting resources for this.
In addition, the lottery also has created an industry of scammers who cheat desperate people. Scammers take their money and promise them an edge or just charge high fees for filling out free paperwork.
About Soviet Jews: When they left the USSR, they lost their Soviet citizenship. If they set foot in Israel, they automatically became citizens and would need a visa to come to the USA. So, many spent years in refugee camps in places outside Vienna or Italy to come to the US as refugees and there's no quota for refugees.
#18
No one was allowed to leave the USSR or any Soviet Bloc country. Remember the Berlin Wall?
So, what are you talking about: Soviet Jewry in refugee camps?
I am talking about the Free Soviet Jewry Campaign of the mid-70s. #18 seems to be referring to some 1947-9 post WW2 refugee problem, which many nationalities shared.
The Free Soviet Jewry was preferential treatment for Jewish people. Soviet Christians, Buddhists or Muslims were persecuted for their religion as well, and got no special treatment
If there were 20 million undocumented Micks in the US of A, there might be some agita. But there aren't and the Irish have historically been pretty good tennants, just ask the Brits! Spics, on the other hand, don't really seem to care where they go so long as there are plenty of low skill jobs and cheap diapers. They'd go to China if they could, and make Barbies there. So I tilt towards the Celts. But I'm one free platter of enchiladas from changing my mind...
Soviet Jews being er, Jews were allowed to leave USSR for Israel, not for US. Most of them got "lost in transit" & subsequently changed their mind about final destination. No wonder, USA has better welfare & social services than Israel.
I wonder what percentage of Irish leaches off welfare vs. that of Russkies? 0.5% vs. 50%?
Right, nik13
Thanks for the clarification: lost in transit. Ha-ha! Good one!