I have been reading the comments about the ridiculous argument about the Irish running off home as soon as they get their greencards. Please stop one comparing me to someone who chooses this and two judging someone who does. The first point is madness because if I have stayed here in America undocumented and lived with all the dreaded side effects like not getting home to Ireland to see my family then to me it is clear the Irish immigrants who live here undocumented obviously are serious about living in America if they wanted to live in Ireland they would have been long gone because it is so difficult to live here undocumented especially since Sept 11th.
The ILIR are fighting to get these people legalized because this is their home. I am an undocumented Irish immigrant and I do not want to move back to Ireland, like so many of the Irish who will benefit from the current bill. I am not rejecting Ireland I just prefer it here and have been here so long now that this is my home. However to make the point that the Irish undocumented should not be legalized because they might all go home to Ireland one day is ridiculous.
Is this whole debate not about a persons right to make a decision for their own destiny, if a person can pass a criminal background check, find themselves a job and go through an application process can they not immigrate. Yet on the other hand if for whatever reason they may chose to live in a different country, move around or return to their country of origin that is their perogitive. We can not dictate to people where they can and cannot go, its the same as telling someone they cannot change careers or partners or move town or state. The Irish immigrants who wanted to return where well in their rights to do so. I myself have known some Irish Americans who moved to Ireland and got citizenship through their parents because they wanted to experience the country their parents came from. It is unfair to punish the current immigrants because some immigrants in the past who got their visas eventually moved home.
This is all beside the point, the immigrants here now should be offered a way to become legal because as we all well know their is no way for them to do that since the 1965 immigration act. I believe the current immigrants like myself are here to stay we have lost too much and struggled too hard to get the visa, but each man chooses his own destiny and we cannot turn our back on them because they don't make the choices we like. Instead I think we should celebrate the fact that they can choose unlike the people over one hundred years ago whose one way ticket was literally one way.
Nina.
12 comments:
Hello Narrowback I think is it fantastic that you would like to help keep the Irish immigrants in America if you go to the website www.irishlobbyusa.org you will recieve all the information you need thank you Sam (an undocumented Irish immigrant)
A few weeks ago an old boss/friend called me up and asked me to work a 10-day film convention. I said "No" and he just would not give it up. He called several times, cracked old jokes, sent me the new slvr as a belated b-day pressie, played his high blood pressure card, got me a fancy hotel and I finally said "Yes." It was fun, made good contacts and I did the job to a high standard. I haven't worked for him in quite a while. I don't mean to come over as cocky but I heard from former co-workers that it took 5 people to do my job when I went to Ireland after Cannes a couple of years ago. There was some great moments, I ran into old aquaintances and a few former interns and hung out at parties. But there was more than a few awkward/sad moments at this event. Several staffers, delegates and attendees asked me if I had a work permit? Suddenly I had to get real busy. A couple of people offered to fly me to Cannes and I replied sorry I am afraid to fly" and they said "well how did you get here, by boat?" The positive/negative media coverage is definitely highlighting this important debate. I don't want or expect sympathy but the inner suffering I have to endure when I do so much to help people, make productions run smooth, make people happy is sad. I was referred to yet another good lawyer and my former boss even came with me. He was very supportive asked tons of q's and got frustrated with the same old same old, I overstayed and cannot be sponsored. It's a shame. I like working with Americans. I have learned from them and they have learned from me. It felt like the apprentice at times. Hey wouldn't it be fun and interesting to have a few Irish people on the show?! Maybe I'll sign up if we get lucky on Memorial Day Weekend!
I really hope we get a positive outcome. We must be hopeful in light of recent coverage. I feel a bit less stressed.I know I will accept whatever it is. We must be captains of our own fate and masters of our own destiny. Breda
Breda;
I'm curious about your situation. It seems like you've been undocumented in the US for about 2 years. Your profession is in film editing. You worked recently for 10 days for an old boss. He paid you in cash, and expenses. You currently work some off-the-books seervice job like bartending. Your skills are good, but as you continue to stay out of your profession, you will continue to fall behind professionally. Am I reading you right? What a waste.
Being captains of our own fates and masters of our own destinies starts with the decisions we make to break laws and demand rights that are not ours. If I broke into your home I would not expect you to invite me to sit down for supper or ask me to stay for the night and watch your children. I would know that there were severe consequences for my actions.
My parents' families immigrated legally, paid the price, became citizens and raised us to respect each other's property and boundaries.
Strange blog, Will they stay or go. Go where? back to Ireland. We are taking in 50,000 Eastern Europeans next year on top of the 100,000 we already have and anyone who wants to come back home will be in for quite a shock because a dip in the encomy is coming and jobs will be a little hard to get. So I dont think any one will be coming home and I wish all my fellow Irish men and women the best of luck with the campaign.
And Nina, pray tell how have you paid taxes if you are undocumented? At present, and for considerable time in the past, the benefits of the United States have flowed in one direction. That is called sponging. There is no other term that can disguise the fact that the 11 - 12m illegals have basked in the beneficence of the American taxpayer.
Did someone say they are prepared to stump-up all back taxes and penalties to gain a regularised status? No, that was only the imagination playing tricks.
You and other illegals have transgressed multiple American laws. And now you wish to have it's citizenry ignore that fact? The rule of law may not apply in Catholicism, to which the greatest number of the illegals subscribe, but it does run America.
So if the illegals are not law-abiding then by what account should they be trusted?
To Sufferin Gael, I do some freelance work, (pay tax on that btw) and I am an event producer. I have not worked much in the past 2 years. Good job, I'm not here for the money! I don't work in a bar or any other side job (I'd probably make a fortune as my people had a bar back at home, I possess good people skills, can count in my head and make a wicked grey goose Cosmo!) But I don't feel right about doing it as I really would be taking someone else's job).
My skill set is under-utilized but I would not say totally wasted. I'm just holding out to see what happens in the coming weeks and I always find something creative to do.
Hey anonymous, not crazy about the analogy about breaking into someone's home. I can't help but say to myself "Jeez who am I robbing?, myself? I certainly did not come to the US with the intention of breaking the law. And on the subject of stealing, the five people that it took to replace my old job got no extra money, so it's not as though 5 jobs were available to qualified Americans! When I walked into the office a few weeks ago, I was met with big cheers and hugs and later lots of grumbling about the extra workload and all the interns that left after I left!
But I am not blogging to boast or to get sympathy or forgiveness for that matter. I merely wish to present my perspective and perhaps educate some of y'all. I respect other people's opinions and can see it from all angles as it is a contentious issue. I know I am breaking the law and I am not happy about it but let me reiterate, I am NO SPONGER and that goes for a lot of Irish that I know here. We are definitely not "basking in the beneficence of the American taxpayer," that much I know for sure. Breda
And what do you tell your children? "Only obey the laws you agree with?"
Strange blog indeed. They continue to talk of impending economic downturn, but they keep coming. I'm talking about the Eastern Europeans and others currently choosing to migrate to Ireland. I'm also talking about the many Irish choosing to return to Ireland to live, myself included. Net migration into a country is a good sign; expanding economy, new potential markets, population growth. It's been a good sign for the US for decades, and continues to be. Talk of the expanding US trade deficit, impending social security and medicare breakdown doesn't stop people coming here either. But we all have our own agenda.
And to the recent poster - who says that 11 - 12m illegals have basked etc - how about the employers of those illegals ? Are they basking as well ? Have they transgressed multiple American laws ? Don't get me wrong, I believe that the US is a great place to do business, you have the world's biggest market and economy at your disposal BUT I think it's astonishing that employers of illegals are not mentioned in this debate. It's like saying if I buy crack cocaine on the street corner, I am the criminal (which is true) but the dealer is an innocent participant (which is decidedly not true).
If the employers of illegals are not law-abiding then by what account should they be trusted ? Did someone say they are prepared to stump-up all the back taxes, health insurance and workers comps ? No, must be the imagination playing tricks there as well.
Breda;
Thanks for clarifying your situation, and for your good spirits. Do you realize that if this supposedly good Senate bill passes, you will definitely have to leave the country, having been here less than 5 years. If it's less than 2 years (from whatever date from which they are counting) you are deported; if it's more than 2 years, you have to exit the US and pick up a permit.
It doesn't seem like it would improve your situation any. For one thing - you might need an employer and a job - freelance could be out.
If you fall into former category, would you even comply? For that matter, would any undocumented comply only to be deported?
Really? Not robbing anyone?
Consider the chronic unemployed. The minimum wage is not a living wage. And the social welfare benefits are far in excess of a 40 hour week @ minimum wage. Illegals working at less than minimum repress the local wages. Who is being robbed? The unemployed and the taxpayer that supports the social welfare system.
As for the crime being committed by employers, spot-on! The 1986 amnesty provided severe penalties for employing illegals. But the INS took blind notice of the situation, purportedly at the direction of the chief executive.
Personally I am all for Ireland legalising all the Bulgarians, Romanians, Moldovans, Russians, Turkeys, Nigerians, etc. tomorrow. Not going to happen you say? Correct.
So desist with the hypocracy and accept the status of an illegal and toil away in the shadows and cease the moaning. Everyone that overstayed their US visa did so consciously. No amount of protesting mitigates that unlawful act.
And now the illegals demand the nationals excuse that transgression. That is rich.
This just in (Irish Independent, 01.06.2006) -
Labour TD Ruairí Quinn said the CSO should examine what level of displacement was involved. Anecdotal evidence suggested Irish unemployed people were failing to get jobs in the open market because incoming workers, from other jurisdictions, accept rates of pay "below what would previously have been acceptable to Irish workers."
N'est-ce pas?
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