A group of Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform supporters and volunteers will be celebrating their Labor Day Weekend (click here to read about the Irish-American origin of the holiday) at the 9th Annual Newport Waterfront Irish Festival in Newport, Rhode "Ireland."
The group is looking forward to a relaxing weekend of Irish music, dance, and culture before focusing all efforts again lobbying Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that will give the 50,000 undocumented Irish who have made this country their home a chance to earn their way to legal status.
Although the weather forecast is a bit wet, but the craic forecast is assured to range from mighty to ninety.
If you plan to attend the two-day Irish Fesitival in Newport, look sharp.
Wear your Legalize the Irish tee shirt with pride.
Legalize the Irish!
4 comments:
Stick to the culture, music, and dance. Stay out of the internal politics.
O'Tool,
I am American. No more American than you might be and definitely no less American.
As an American, I support comprehensive immigration reform and the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.
As an American, this is MY internal politics.
From what I could see at the townhall meetings and lobby days in DC, more than half of the most vocal supporters and dedicated volunteers of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform are American citizens (some do not even have Irish roots).
Your implication that the ILIR is made up of foreign agents shows you do not have all the facts.
Please take the time to check out (with an open mind) the www.irishlobbyusa.org website to learn more about the group and the immigration situation.
As Americans, we want to see Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a path to earned legal status for the 50,000 undocumented Irish who have lived and worked in this country for years.
As Americans, we will not stand by and let Congress screw up our American-Irish communities across the country by passing a law that would do nothing to enhance our border seccurity but would wreak havoc on our community by branding honest hardworking people as felons because of their undocumented status.
As Americans, we want our scarce national resources spent wisely and not wasted on projects like a giant fence that will not solve the problem (and would probably be built by undocumented immigrants).
As Americans, we want our law enforcement recources focused on rounding up real criminals(terrorists and drug gangs) instead of trying to round up millions of hardworking people who are no threat to national and local security.
This is an American struggle as much as it is the struggle of the Irish undocumented. The American-Irish community is at stake.
The undocumented Irish are a vital part of the community where I live. They own homes and pay taxes. Their children attend parochial schools. They don't take a dime from the government.
I am proud of my Irish roots. That's why I am going to the Newport Irish Festival.
I worry that Congress' failure to act will be the death knell of the American-Irish community where I live. That is why I will wear my Legalize the Irish shirt at the Newport Irish Festival.
I do not plan to interrupt people and preach my "internal politics," but I will be there to have a good time and answer questions that might be asked about my shirt.
Will you be joining us in Newport, O'Tool?
Have a great time in Rhode Island Ar nDuthcha. Great response and a comfort to know that you are behind us and the campaign to get legalized. Somehow, I have developed high blood pressure (it was always low around 108 over whatever) I feel anxious but hoping we'll hear some good news soon.
Ar;
Your implication that the ILIR is made up of foreign agents
## I really wasn't thinking of that, but now that you mention it, ILIR does get some funding from the Irish government, and please correct me if I'm wrong. What I was thinking about however, was the fact that because the ILIR consists of many illegal aliens (as well as legal immigrants, and Americans, etc.) that there is the 'potential' for abuse of national security, like the "Jimmy Lynch" case some years back, or the "Belfast Children's Vacation Fund" which was an open secret for contributions to the IRA. But these rebel charities are strictly taboo in today's climate.
shows you do not have all the facts.
## Yes, I want the facts.
As Americans, we want to see Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a path to earned legal status for the 50,000 undocumented Irish who have lived and worked in this country for years.
##So working is a requisite and for how many years? 1, 2, 20, 50? Who would be included, and who would be excluded? I think you are opening a Pandora's box here because you would have to, regrettably, make the decision that some would not be eligible for legalization. Establishing that criteria would lower the bar. But you would still have a bar. I say to leave the bar where it is. Already, the USA is by far, the largest acceptor of immigrants in the world. By opening up the country to even more immigration, we risk huge cultural and economic upheavals. This is why I support stabilizing, and even reducing US immigration rates. They should not go any higher.
wreak havoc on our community by branding honest hardworking people as felons because of their undocumented status.
## you mean because of their "criminal" status. They are lawbreakers, whether felons or misdemenorer, they are still guilty of a crime. Remember, OJ committed murder and it was tried as a civil offense.
As Americans, we want our scarce national resources spent wisely and not wasted on projects like a giant fence that will not solve the problem (and would probably be built by undocumented immigrants).
## war in Iraq is a waste of resources - is a fence more of a waste than that fiasco? One thing about a fence, it has been proven to work. Legislate that the work will be done exclusively by US Citizens, and pay them a decent wage.
As Americans, we want our law enforcement resources focused on rounding up real criminals(terrorists and drug gangs)
##Yes, i agree. How do you pick them out?
instead of trying to round up millions of hardworking people who are no threat to national and local security.
##How do you pick them out?
They own homes and pay taxes.
##Now we're talking about illegal aliens, here. How does an illegal alien buy a home. He probably needs to get a mortgage from a bank, and isn't the bank going to ask for sufficient documentation to show that the buyer is legally in the US. (Maybe somebody on the blog can contribute here). How can a bank view as a low risk investment, a person who could be deported at any time, thus depriving the bank of it's return on investment? Or maybe the bank relishes profiting in the foreclosure in much the same way the immigrants of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" were scammed.
Will you be joining us in Newport, O'Tool?
##Sorry, i got other plans.
Post a Comment