Coast to Coast Criticism of Bertie Comments in US

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has sparked a storm of coast-to-coast criticism in the US after his comments last week over the undocumented Irish.

From San Francisco to Boston and New York, the main Irish newspapers ran the story as their page one lead on Wednesday, March 26.

The Irish Herald in San Francisco pulled no punches; "Taoiseach Bertie Ahern Turns His Back on Reform for the Undocumented Irish."

The Irish Echo Said "Row Deepens, ILIR seeks talks after Ahern's Remarks." and The Irish Voice led with "SOS for Bertie Meeting" and an editorial by Niall O'Dowd which said; "Why Neither Side Wins"

All three newspapers featured an Op Ed by California lawyer Bart Murphy which blasted the Government's attitude. The Herald actually ran the Op-Ed on the front page. In it, Mr Murphy said;

"with all the subtlety of a head-butt, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern turned his government's back on supporting recent proposals put forward by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform."

Irish American organizations have united in opposition to the Taoiseach's comments.

The uproar over the Taoiseach's comments is sure to overshadow his pending address to Congress on April 30.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern Turns His Back on Reform for the Undocumented Irish

By Bart Murphy

“THE concept of an amnesty, wiping the sheet clean, is just not on.”
“They are talking from a position of sitting in the bar, and talking nonsense.”

With these comments made while standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on St. Patrick’s afternoon, and with all the subtlety of a head-butt, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern turned his government’s back on supporting recent proposals put forward by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) for a U.S.-Ireland bilateral visa program.

This proposal would deal with the crisis of the undocumented Irish and finally provide a permanent and sensible pathway to Irish-U.S. migration going forward.

No less than two Aherns, Bertie the taoiseach and Dermot, the minister for foreign affairs, had previously made public and private commitments to support the proposal and push for its implementation in Washington.

However, it had become increasingly clear over the last six months that while a significant number of influential U.S. elected leaders were interested in pursuing discussions, for unexplained reasons our own team were not turning up for the match. Excuses were made, but no plausible rationale offered.

Labeling committed Irish immigrant advocates as misguided and uninformed bar-stool dreamers and the bilateral visa proposal an “amnesty,” Ahern set off a flurry of criticism over the Irish government’s refusal to push for a long-term and viable solution to the issue.

Reports and opinion pieces in the Irish and Irish American media bear headlines such as “A Kick in The teeth for the Irish in America,” “Ahern in Bar-Room Row Over U.S. Illegals”, “Pack Your Bags” and “The St. Patrick’s Day Insult.”

Talk about washing your linens in public! Bertie, what were you and your senior advisors thinking?

We may never know the answer, and it leaves many more unanswered questions regarding the Irish government’s real attitude and commitment to the future of its tens of thousands of undocumented men, women and children in the U.S.

It would be too easy to simply hurl back insults to the taoiseach and his senior advisers from the Department of Foreign Affairs for this grossly unwarranted and misleading criticism.

And perhaps that’s what Ahern’s comments were designed to do -– to shift the debate away from working on a solution, to trivialize the advocates, to personalize the debate.

For make no mistake about it, in all their uncouthness and insensitivity, Ahern’s comments were carefully planned and choreographed to cause damage. Having navigated the choppy waters of the Northern Ireland peace process for the last 20 years, these guys know how to spin an issue and shift a debate better than most.

By tarring the proposed bilateral visa solution as an “amnesty,” Ahern and his advisers want to knock it on its head. They know well that “amnesty” is the atomic bomb of U.S. immigration politics.

It is the language of Tancredo and Dobbs. It plays to people’s fears and the lowest common denominator in the immigration reform debate.

And it’s unfair and untrue. We sadly know too well the U.S. is not ready for broad, sweeping, comprehensive immigration reform.

The only significant U.S. immigration reform in the last 45 years has come about on a country by country and regional basis — El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Russia, Israel and South East Asia. Australia, Chile and Singapore now have long-term bilateral visa systems put in place with the U.S., each one a little bit different and tailored to country specific needs.

Given Ireland’s much vaunted relationship with the U.S. on a number of fronts, many experienced hands, including former Congressman Bruce Morrison, author of the Morrison visa program which granted 48,000 green cards to the Irish in the 1990s, feel that Ireland would be pushing “an open door” in seeking such an arrangement. It might not be perfect, it might need some finessing, but isn’t that what Bertie does best?

We’ve long heard the pious platitudes and sound-bytes of Ireland “cherishing our diaspora.” But those of us with memories longer than an Irish election cycle also recall the tepid reception and lack of interest previous Irish governments had in the Morrison and Donnelly proposals 20 years ago.

Without the push of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement and its allies, there are many now successful Irish men and women in America who would have been otherwise left twisting in the wind. Oh, how history repeats itself!

Let’s not confuse the issue. To give credit where its due, the Irish government has been proactive and very generous in recent years in funding U.S.-based Irish immigrant social service agencies.

But that generosity does not fix the long term political and social problems facing our undocumented in the U.S. It is at best, treating some of the symptoms and not the core illness.

Without bold, ambitious commitment and action on the part of the Irish government, the undocumented issue will keep getting bigger and bigger. Thirty-thousand to 50,000 people with roots in their local communities across the country, many now with U.S. born, school going children, are not going back to Ireland in the near or long term. And to suggest otherwise is a political cop-out.

A more famous and perhaps wiser and wilier Irish politician, Edmund Burke, once said that “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Sorry, Bertie. I’m with Burke on this one.

(Bart Murphy serves on the board of directors of the San Francisco Irish Immigration and Pastoral Center, is past president and a member of the board of the National Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers and serves on the advisory board of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.)

A kick in the teeth for Irish in America

(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

We are NOT talking Nonsense in Bars

We have listed several articles below which detail the statements by the Taoiseach, and our response.

We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we are not giving up on the undocumented Irish in the US. We will continue to battle on their behalf. We will not give up until this battle is over.

Pack your bags
Ahern advises undocumented to consider return trip (Irish Echo)

ILIR Says Ahern Is 'Misinformed'
THE Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) has expressed deep disappointment in Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern's comments in Washington, D.C. on St. Patrick's Day. (Irish Voice)

Time To Unite
Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern threw the cat among the pigeons this week when he accused Irish immigration advocates of seeking an unrealistic "amnesty" for the undocumented. (Irish Voice)

ILIR pushes Ahern to pursue viable visa plan
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was urged last night to personally ask US President George Bush to accept a deal to grant visas to 10,000 illegal Irish emigrants.

Audio Clips

• Ciaran Staunton suggests a way forward for Mr Ahern RTE 1 o'clock news
• "We never sought an amnesty,' Niall O'Dowd on Newstalk Right Hook
• "Talking Nonsense in Bars," Bertie Ahern's comments on RTE Morning Ireland
• Niall O'Dowd says the Taoiseach's comments reveal his ignorance of the US immigration debate RTE Morning Ireland

Please feel free to comment on the official ILIR blog at or The 33rd County which is run by the Friends and Family in Ireland.

Hollywood Star Makes Impassioned Plea for Irish

Hollywood star Fionnula Flanagan made an impassioned St Patrick's Day plea for undocumented Irish immigrants in New York this weekend. Ms Flanagan was speaking at a ritzy event in Manhattan to honor the Top 100 Irish Americans. She urged the crowd, which included Education Minister Mary Hanafin, not to turn their backs on the undocumented Irish in the US.

"We must not forget those who are less fortunate in times of prosperity," she said. "We must not turn our backs on people because it is not fashionable to support them.We must not forget those who are less fortunate than ourselves."

Ms Flanagan said her own experience as an undocumented immigrant in the US had showed her how simple it was to fall out of status.

"But I was lucky," she said. "People were able to help me get back on my feet. Today's undocumented Irish are not so lucky."

She urged the Irish Americans present to contact their legislators to ask for help for the undocumented Irish. "It is up to us, Irish Americans, to reach out to our leaders."

Ms Flanagan has been a long-time supporter of the campaign for immigration reform in the US."Over the years, when asked, I have lent my name and whatever support I could to a variety of organisations in southern California which have championed sanctuary and the rights of immigrants who come largely from Central America. Their struggle is not easy and the bias against them is horrendous," she said.

Earlier this year, the Emmy-winning Irish actress pulled out of the U.S. Ireland Alliance pre-Oscar awards bash over comments made by its president Trina Vargo which criticised the campaign for the undocumented Irish.

Ms Flanagan said she refused to be "honored" by an organization that appeared to "castigate or shame" the "most vulnerable of (her) countrymen".

Action Alert on Shuler/Tancredo Bill

House Republicans have begun the process that, they hope, will force a vote on the Shuler/Tancredo “SAVE Act” in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA) filed a discharge petition for the Shuler/Tancredo bill. If the discharge petition receives 217 signatures, House leaders will be forced to bring the Shuler/Tancredo bill to the Floor for an up or down vote.

The National Immigration Forum expects that most, if not all Republicans, will sign the discharge petition, meaning that if more than a handful of Democrats sign the petition, it will gain enough signatures.

By way of review, the Shuler/Tancredo SAVE Act would, among other things, require all employers, within four years, to use the flawed E-verify employment authorization verification system for all workers—new hires and current workers.

Please Urge Your Representative to Decline to Sign

Contact your Representative and ask that he or she not sign the discharge petition.

To Call Your Representative:

You can get your Representative’s contact information here:

www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

Message:

Please decline to sign the petition to discharge HR 4088, the Shuler-Tancredo bill (also known as the “SAVE” Act.).

To Send a Message:

You can send a message to your Representative by e-mail. Begin with this page:

www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

to get to the Web site of your Representative and click on the contact feature to send a message.

Message:

Please decline to sign the petition to discharge HR 4088, the Shuler-Tancredo bill (also known as the “SAVE” Act.) Bringing this seriously flawed bill to the floor without benefit of careful review by committee undermines the democratic process and shortchanges the American public. Although downplayed by sponsors of the petition, the centerpiece of this bill is a mandatory employer verification program that is highly controversial and lacks necessary safeguards to protect American workers from wrongful termination. Hundreds of national, state, and local organizations representing business, labor, and immigrant communities have written to Congress opposing the flawed Shuler-Tancredo “SAVE” Act. Making use of the motion to discharge in the case of such widespread opposition is not the way to restore the rule of law to the immigration debate.

Co-sponsors of the Shuler/Tancredo bill

You can find a list of co-sponsors for the Shuler/Tancredo bill here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR04088:@@@

For More Information:

More information on the Shuler/Tancredo bill can be found on the Forum Web site:

http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=936#Info

ILIR at the White House

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform ramped up their campaign in the US on Friday with a meeting in the White House with Ed Gillespie, the top advisor to President George W Bush.

Pictured left to right are; ILIR Executive Director Kelly Fincham, Vice-Chairman Ciaran Staunton, White House Counsellor Mr Gillespie, Chairman Niall O'Dowd, and ILIR Consultant Bruce Morrison.

We met Mr Gillespie to discuss a limited immigration reform package which could include an Irish element among its provisions. Chairman Niall O'Dowd said the meeting, which was set up by senior figures in the Republican Party in the US, was one of the most positive developments in recent times.

"We had a very constructive meeting at the White House with the President's top adviser, Ed Gillespie," he said.

"We had a wide-ranging discussion on Irish immigration and we made a concrete proposal to the White House which they have agreed to consider.

"Mr Gillespie was extremely knowledgeable on the issue and we look forward to future meetings with the White House," he said.

Mr Gillespie is the highest-ranking assistant to President Bush and is believed to be the "Mr Fixit" at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Mr Gillespie, whose father emigrated from Donegal, began his career on Capitol Hill as a parking attendant at the Senate car park.

In 2006, Mr Gillespie penned a Wall Street Journal editorial in support of a comprehensive immigration reform package in which he said: "The Republican Party cannot become an anti-immigration party."

Mr Gillespie, who assumed some of former Karl Rove's job in the White House, has been widely praised for his role in orchestrating a rapid-response PR unit dedicated to helping sell the "surge" in the Iraq war in the US.

ILIR at the White House for Immigration Meetings

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform ramped up their campaign in the US on Friday with a meeting in the White House with Ed Gillespie, the top advisor to President George W Bush.

ILIR Chairman Niall O'Dowd, Vice-Chairman Ciaran Staunton, Executive Director, Kelly Fincham, and Immigration Consultant Bruce Morrison met Mr Gillespie to discuss a limited immigration reform package which could include an Irish element among its provisions.

Chairman Niall O’Dowd said the meeting, which was set up by senior figures in the Republican Party US, was one of the most positive developments in recent times.

Hear Niall O'Dowd on RTE's News at One

Update from the ILIR

The ILIR will be holding a series of town halls to address concerns in the community about immigration reform in the coming weeks. We will be emailing times + venues in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we have gathered a selection of recent articles and radio shows here which have appeared in different sites this week. The articles are listed below with the relevant links. Please feel free to comment on the official ILIR blog at or The 33rd County which is run by the Friends and Family in Ireland.

An Open Letter to Bertie (Niall O'Dowd) The Irish Star, Feb 22, 2008
Excerpt: I was disappointed that you never mentioned the Irish undocumented issue in your remarks though...it is important for you to know that thousands of Irish undocumented emigrants in America will be watching and listening too. You see you are their last real hope of achieving legal status in the United States.

Irish Government Slammed after Hands are Tied Claim over Undocumented
The Irish government has been slammed over its inaction on the undocumented issue. Activists have compared comments by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to those of the Mexican President who this week pledged to up his commitment to Mexican immigrants in the US.

Deportation Fear Cost Man His Life
The father of a County Derry man who died in the US said he believes his son delayed seeking medical treatment because he feared being deported.

ILIR on Irish Radio Show
Interview with ILIR vice-chairman Ciaran Staunton and an undocumented Irish man on the "Right Hook" radio show in Ireland

John Duddy and ILIR in International Herald Tribune

International Herald Tribune
Ireland's John Duddy a throwback fighter with a modern message

The Associated Press
Friday, February 15, 2008

NEW YORK: John Duddy broke into a wide grin, yanking the fluffy white beard off his chin. Here was Ireland's own, back home in Derry last December, dressed in a ridiculous Santa Claus outfit and smiling like a 3-year-old just woken up on Christmas morning.

This is the promising fighter with the punishing punches and the unblemished record? This is the guy who sells out Madison Square Garden whenever he steps between the ropes, who's built a following in America's biggest city that reminds old-timers of a bygone era?

Turns out there's more to this middleweight contender than meets the eye — which, at the moment, would seem like quite a statement.

"He does so much for other people," said Adele McCourt, who works for the city of Derry, recalling the Santa getup to benefit charity. "Everybody loves him, very much so."

Similar sentiments are felt across Atlantic, where the adopted New Yorker has created a massive following among the city's Irish immigrant population.

Duddy is a reminder of boxing's "Golden Era," when big fights would draw tens of thousands to Yankee Stadium and Chicago Stadium. When Sugar Ray Robinson waged his epic battles against Kid Gavilan, Jake LaMotta and the toughest opponent of all, racism. And perhaps most importantly, when the city's melting pot would magically divide for a big fight, with Italians, Portuguese and Germans each backing their own.

"It is like a throwback, when New York was really the center of the earth," said Duddy, who will fight unheralded Walid Smichet on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko-Sultan Ibragimov heavyweight title fight on Feb. 23 at Madison Square Garden. "I think whenever I came along there was nothing there at all for the Irish American and the Irish man to support.

"The night before the soccer match (last year), when the Republic played at Giants Stadium, New York was green for a week," he continued. "I came along at a time when my people wanted to see one of our own. They have a good drink, a good sing and a good laugh."

That unabashed love is one of the reasons Duddy has thrown his support to the New York-based Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, attending meetings and wearing a T-shirt into the ring promoting the group's Web site, legalizetheirish.org.

The group estimates there are 50,000 undocumented Irish workers in the United States, lost in the shuffle of illegal immigrants from other parts of the globe and the bureaucracy that comes with applying for green cards and citizenship.

In 2006, the Irish were granted 2,038 green cards and 1,754 became U.S. citizens, according to the most recent data available from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Those numbers are on par with countries like Armenia and Belarus, and pale in comparison to the nearly 84,000 naturalized Mexicans and 47,500 from India.

"What we're seeing now is 20,000 immigrating to Australia each year that would come to the U.S. if they could come legally," said Kelly Finchem, executive director of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. "Irish people come to the U.S. almost reflexively."

The group has political support from both sides of the aisle, and appears well-positioned for the November election. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both expressed support for immigration reform, as has Republican front-runner John McCain.

It was McCain who attended a rally in the Bronx a couple of years ago in support of a comprehensive reform package that included a temporary guest worker program and provisions that would have allowed undocumented immigrants a chance to work toward citizenship. The bill made it through the U.S. Senate but died in Congress.

Duddy also attended that town hall meeting and was asked to pose a question to McCain.

"The moderator said we have a question from John Duddy, a couple thousand stand up and give him a standing ovation," Finchem said. "I'm sure Senator McCain was wondering what was going on."

Duddy downplays his role in the campaign. He readily admits he doesn't understand politics in the States, but figures if his people support him, the least he can do is support them.

Besides, the dashing young Irishman has had his own problems with the immigration service.

Realizing from a young age he wanted to be a professional boxer, Duddy moved to New York about four years ago in search of better trainers and better competition. When he went home for a visit, he learned he had overstayed his visa. It took months of wrangling to trim the red tape that allowed him to return to the U.S.

"People who come to work and are good citizens and didn't fill out the right paperwork, I look at it as personal," Duddy said through a thick brogue. "But again, I'm not a big influence on it. I wear a T-shirt and appear at some events. I sort of look at myself as everybody else."

But he's unlike anybody else when he pulls on those green Everlast gloves.

Duddy's straightforward, no-messing-around style has ended 17 of his 23 fights by knockout, and extended his cult status beyond just his Irish brethren.

When Duddy headlined the "Erin Go Brawl" card last March, busloads of fans flooded the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Duddy battered and bloodied Anthony Bonsante for nine of the scheduled 12 rounds in retaining the IBA middleweight title and capturing the vacant WBC Continental Americas crown.

"I want to excite and I don't want to hang around. I want to see if he can take what I have to offer," said Duddy, who enjoys an otherwise quiet life, playing the guitar and reading literature. "In the ring, I don't see any point dilly-dallying around."

Duddy might soon be taking a big step up in class, though, and many wonder how that style will translate against more refined opponents.

Promoter Eddie McLoughlin of Irish Ropes said an agreement is nearly in place for Duddy to fight WBC and WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in June, most likely in New York, assuming his star gets past Smichet and Pavlik's fight against Jermain Taylor doesn't derail the deal.

McLoughlin can't imagine anything getting in the way of his Irish hope.

"It's looking good right now," he said of the deal. "You know everybody wants it."
Notes:
International Herald Tribune Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

NEXT PRESIDENT WILL TONE DOWN ANTI-IMMIGRATION RHETORIC

By Cynthia Tucker Sat Feb 9, 7:56 PM ET Yahoo News

So much for Tancredoism.

Tom Tancredo is the Colorado congressman who ran for the Republican presidential nomination on a simple platform of nativism and undisguised contempt for illegal immigrants. Since his ill-tempered and simplistic views reflected the sentiments of the hard-core Republican base, several other members of the GOP field adopted a similar mean-spirited rhetoric.

As Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney -- Republican hopefuls with moderate records on illegal immigration -- tacked toward Know-Nothingism, Arizona Sen. John McCain stood largely apart, resisting the impulse to blame illegal immigrants for everything from terrorism to high taxes. As his signature legislation to legalize undocumented workers was routinely excoriated as "amnesty" by conservative talk-show hosts and right-wing bloggers, McCain barely budged.

In November, during a Republican debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., his GOP rivals worked to prove their anti-immigration bona fides, citing their support for such dubious measures as high fences and hot pursuit of Mexican landscapers. A clearly unenthusiastic McCain pledged to tighten the borders but declined to ratchet up his rhetoric.

"We must recognize these are God's children as well," he said. "They need our love and compassion, and I want to ensure that I will enforce the borders first. But we won't demagogue it."

Now, McCain is the likely Republican nominee. Among the losers in last Tuesday's mega-primary was the Tancredo Credo, which placed illegal immigrants at the center of every peril and every problem facing the American voter. With both remaining Democrats -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- having voted for comprehensive immigration reform, there is little chance the Oval Office will be occupied by an anti-immigration mossback.

Even Republican voters have moved immigration down to their second most-important issue, after the economy, according to Super Tuesday exit polls. The war in Iraq ranked third among GOP voters. Democrats, meanwhile, don't list immigration among their top three concerns. Instead, they emphasize the economy, the war in Iraq and health care.

Illegal immigration remains a complex and nettlesome issue, requiring a thoughtful and measured response. That, by the way, was represented by the McCain-Kennedy comprehensive reform bill, which failed when Republicans, despite support from President Bush, refused to vote for it.

While illegal immigrants burden the social infrastructure -- schools, hospitals and housing -- they also revitalize many neighborhoods as they open new businesses and buy additional goods and services.

Many immigrant children will start elementary school with poor English skills. That forces teachers to work harder and places an undue burden on schools that are already overcrowded. But those Mexican and Guatemalan schoolchildren will learn to speak English quickly because language skills are more easily acquired in youth. (The relative youth of illegal immigrants also helps the United States solve a demographic problem: As the U.S. birth rate falls, we are aging as a nation. We need a steady supply of younger workers.)

At the very bottom of the wage scale, illegal immigrants probably take a few jobs away from uneducated and marginalized American laborers. But the effect is minimal, according to researchers. The most comprehensive analysis has found that illegal immigration depresses wages no more than 50 cents to 60 cents an hour -- hardly a figure that makes or breaks a budget.

Those subtleties were drowned out by the Know-Nothing demagoguery that dominated the Republican presidential campaign. But with the GOP race largely settled -- and with Obama and Clinton conscientiously courting Latino voters -- the rhetoric will likely moderate.

That's because voters didn't fall for the scapegoating premise of Tancredoism. It was a bad product, and few voters bought it.

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Romney's Out! Another Victory for Immigrant Advocates

So, farewell to Mitt Romney; another casualty of the wrong-headed attitude to immigration championed by most Republicans' (and some Democrats it has to be said).

ILIR vice-chairman Ciaran Staunton made headlines when he challenged Romney on immigration during the debates in New Hampshire in the first weekend in January. Ciaran was the only person that we are aware of who stood up and publicly challenged Romney on his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

We've been saying it all along, (and hopefully the mainstream media will start picking up on this) - American voters are not terrified of immigrants; we're terrified of losing our homes, losing our health care, losing our children in war, we are NOT terrified of people who are only trying to work for a living.

John McCain knows this, Hillary Clinton knows this and Barack Obama knows this. Maybe there's hope for comprehensive immigration reform after all...

Lou Dobbs on Defensive over Anti-immigrant Stance

The president of La Raza, Janet Murguia, takes on Lou Dobbs over his anti-immigrant stance. It's a fantastic segment, great to see someone holding Lou Dobbs accountable the hate speech that parades across his show on a nightly basis. Click here to view the clip. Ms Murguia was also promoting the new website We Can Stop The Hate which documents the slew of hateful comment swirling round the alleged debate on immigration. Dobbs does not come across well on this segment. Janet Rocks!!

Immigration Misfire (from Wall Street Journal)

Immigration Misfire
By ROSA ROSALES
Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2008; Page A16

Political pundits used to maintain that the American electorate was galvanized around the issue of illegal immigration. Voters, they claimed, would punish any candidate who failed to take a tough stance on immigrants and did not adamantly oppose the "A" word -- Amnesty -- in all its tortured definitions.

Yet a funny thing happened in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. The most anti-immigrant candidates performed below expectations, and those accused of supporting amnesty and in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants won.

How is this possible? How could John McCain, the author of the McCain-Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration bill beat Mitt Romney, who aired anti-illegal-immigrant commercials more than 12,000 times in Iowa and New Hampshire alone?

Well, it turns out that 57% of Iowa primary voters actually favored earned citizenship for the undocumented. Only 23% favored deportation. And according to New Hampshire exit polls, immigration was not among the three most important issues for Democrats. It was tied for third place among Republicans.

In Florida, Mr. Romney's anti-illegal-immigrant message led Cuban Americans to vote for Mr. McCain by a 5-1 margin. Additionally, CNN exit polls showed that Republicans who favored deportation for illegal immigrants constituted only 40% of the vote, while 58% favored either temporary resident status or an earned pathway to citizenship.

Now the pundits have changed their tune. Mr. Romney's anti-illegal-immigrant rhetoric, they're declaring, is driving Latino voters away from the GOP and making traditionally conservative states such as Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, Iowa and even Arizona into swing states.

However, the backlash to Mr. Romney's rhetoric was predictable from the beginning. In 22 national public opinion polls conducted last year, 50%-83% of Americans supported some type of pathway to legalization for undocumented workers. In almost every competitive race in the 2006 congressional elections that matched an anti-immigration candidate against one that supported comprehensive immigration reform, the anti-immigrant candidate lost.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Romney started out with a fairly moderate position on immigration, saying in 2005 that it would not be "practical or economic for the country" to deport all undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. In reference to the proposals of President Bush and Mr. McCain to create pathways to legalization, Mr. Romney told the Boston Globe that, "I think those are reasonable proposals."

Yet once Mr. Romney became serious about a presidential run his rhetoric became increasingly anti-immigrant. On his way out the door as governor of Massachusetts, he initiated a program to deputize state troopers to detain individuals solely on the basis of their immigration status. Once on the campaign trail, he began running numerous ads attacking the other candidates for being too soft on "illegals."

Apparently conservative voters respond to issues that impact their personal quality of life far more than they do to racially polarized rhetoric designed to pit one group of Americans against another. In the two states Mr. Romney won, Michigan and Nevada, he focused on economic issues, and exit polls show that issue resonated much more than immigration.

While Mr. Romney's campaign must be disappointed with the election results so far, it is immigrants themselves who've suffered the most from the divisive offensive on immigration. Congress shelved comprehensive reform last summer, as many members became convinced that helping immigrants, even when it is in our nation's interest, was politically untenable. Inflammatory rhetoric has also led to a dramatic increase in hate crimes and racial profiling against Latinos, according to the FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In 2008, our country needs a leader who will unite Americans, not divide them; one that honors the hard work and patriotism of immigrants, not holds them out for public scorn. Even if pundits, bloggers and talk show hosts can't seem to get this message in their heads, the American public is speaking through their votes. They are choosing candidates who offer hope and solutions, not the politics of fear.

Ms. Rosales is president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

And add your comments to the opinionjournal.com forum2.

Another tragedy for undocumented Irish

A toast to an Irishman, By Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe, January 31, 2008

Eddie Treacy lived in the shadows and died in his bed, the covers pulled up, his lungs full of fluid.

He was 33 years old, and there is no other way to say this: He died too young.

He came to Dorchester eight years ago from Athenry, in County Galway, part of what could be the last great wave of the young Irish to come here.

Boston is still Irish enough for a guy like Eddie Treacy to fit in. There's always enough work, and there are Gaelic games in Canton on the weekends and fresh brown bread every day at Greenhills Bakery in Adams Village.

Eddie was a master carpenter and made a decent living. For a young man, he was old school, using a simple tool called a square.

Eddie only needed one measurement for a job. Others would punch away at calculators, but Eddie would do the calculations in his head, and hand off the wood, cut precisely, like a diamond.

After a day's work, Eddie would make his way to the Eire Pub for a few jars. If the stool next to his great pal, Muldoon, was open, he would take it.

"How's Mul?" Eddie would ask.

"How's Eddie?" Muldoon would ask back.

And then they would silently watch the news on the TV set over the head of Martin Nicholson, the barman. With Eddie, there was no need for long yarns or running commentary.

Eddie was a rare Irishman, in that he was a great listener, not a great talker. If he agreed with you, he would nod, almost imperceptibly. If he thought you were full of it, he would raise an eyebrow, a silent indictment.

Like other illegal immigrants, he wanted to legalize his residency. He would have paid anything, done anything. But there was no way.

He thought about going home, as his brother Michael did, not long after Eddie first came here.

But Eddie liked it here, so he stayed on, kept his head down.

He didn't ask for much. Once, he told Muldoon he would be happy if he died in his own bed and they played "The Fields of Athenry" at his funeral. They both laughed, because young men don't think they will ever die.

Eddie died in his own bed. We will never know if it was stubborn pride or a fear of being deported that kept him from going to a hospital to treat the pneumonia that killed him. Maybe he just didn't realize how sick he was.

Gerry Treacy hadn't seen his brother in eight years, and when he finally did, Eddie was lying in a casket inside the Keaney Funeral Home on Dot Ave.

"He was a quiet lad," Gerry Treacy was saying, as he and Michael prepared to bring their brother home. "He liked the simple pleasures."

Brendan McCann, a senior at BC High, stood near the altar and played "The Fields of Athenry" on his fiddle as they wheeled Eddie Treacy's casket down the aisle of St. Brendan's Church.

All around the church, there were images of another carpenter who died at 33, nearly 2,000 years ago, another carpenter who some people dismissed as a criminal.

After Mass, about 200 people posed on the front steps of the church for a photo to send back to Eddie's mother, Ann, so she would know that Eddie mattered here. Many of the young men standing there had given up a day's wages to pay their respects.

Then everybody went to Sonny's, the pub that sponsored the Father Tom Burke hurling teams Eddie played for and managed.

Muldoon raised a glass to his friend.

"We'll never see the likes of him again," he said.

On Monday night, as President Bush told the nation that we need to find "a sensible and humane way to deal with people here illegally," Eddie Treacy's body was in the cargo hold of Aer Lingus Flight 132, somewhere over the Atlantic, heading home.

Eddie Treacy was buried today, where he wanted to be, in the fields of Athenry.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com.

Major Hispanic Group Launches 'Hate Speech' Campaign Targeting Dobbs, Beck

Finally, finally, Lou Dobbs is being taken to task for his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

La Raza, the country's biggest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization has launched a mega-watt campaign targeting several newscasters and presidential candidates for "rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and Hispanic Americans."

La Raza, which includes nearly 300 affiliated organizations, will launch a new initiative on Thursday titled "We Can Stop The Hate," aimed at curtailing the influence of CNN's Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck as well as MSNBC political commentator Pat Buchanan. In addition, the organization is petitioning for Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to renounce the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, a cofounder of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigration group.

"There's a bully in the room," said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CE, "and each of these candidates has a choice. They can stand up to the bully or they can cater to him. It is a question of courage or cowardice. To date, we have seen far too little courage."

Immigration issue killed Romney in Florida

Hispanics deliver Florida for McCain:by Simon Rosenberg: See original post here

According to the exit polls Mitt Romney and John McCain tied 33% to 33% among the 89% of the Florida voters last night who were not Hispanic. Among Hispanics, who were 11% of the Florida GOP electorate last night, the vote was 54% McCain, 24% Rudy and 14% Romney. So it was the vote of Hispanic voters who put John McCain over the top in Florida, and gave him the most important win of his fight for the GOP nomination.

Thus, John McCain, the candidate who championed immigration reform, may have had the nomination delivered to him by those Hispanic voters he has been fighting for. And Romney, who has led the anti-immigrant crusade in the GOP field this year, saw this strategy explode on him - as it has virtually every other Republican who has invested in it - last night.

McCain has had to distance himself from his more moderate position on immigration in order to attempt to negate some of the hostility conservatives have toward him. The quicker he wraps this thing up, the quicker he can throw his base under the bus on immigration and make a last-ditch effort to rescue the Republican Party from itself on the issue. Too bad for him, he'll have hundreds of little Republicans running down-ballot races basing their entire campaigns on demonizing brown people.

One Argument, 12 Million Holes

This is a great editorial from the New York Times today. However, it's not only the Democrats who need to stand up more forcefully. Where are the other pro-immigrant groups? So far, ILIR Vice Chairman, Ciaran Staunton, has been the only person we know of to publicly challenge Mitt Romney.

JAN 18, NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: The big fat immigration bill that died last year in Congress was, for all its flaws, an anchor that kept debate tethered firmly to reality. Like it or not, it contained specific remedies for the border and the workplace. It had a plan for clearing backlogs in legal immigration and managing its future flow. Perhaps most critical, it dealt with the 12 million illegal immigrants already here, through a tough path to earned citizenship.

Unmoored from a comprehensive federal bill, the debate was pushed into the states and is now floating in the La-La Land of the presidential campaign. The Republicans have been battling over the sincerity of their sound bites and trying to make their fixation on one dimension of the problem — tough border and workplace enforcement — sound like the solution.

But it isn’t, of course, because it ignores the fundamental question of what to do about the undocumented 12 million. A locked-down border won’t affect them. There is no way to round them up and move them out all at once. Not even the most eagerly anti-immigration candidate would dare talk about detention camps. Amnesty is a Republican curse word. So what’s the plan?

This is the cavernous hole in anti-immigration policy that its proponents want to cover with chain link and razor wire. It’s where swaggering Republicans get vague and mushy. The emptiness of their position was acutely exposed in the Jan. 5 debate, when Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, ripped into Senator John McCain of Arizona for sponsoring an “amnesty” bill that did not call for the mass expulsion of 12 million people.

MR. McCAIN: There is no special right associated with my plan. I said they should not be in any way rewarded for illegal behavior.

MR. ROMNEY: Are they sent home?

MR. McCAIN: They have to get in line —

MR. ROMNEY: Are they sent home?

MR. McCAIN: — behind everybody else.

MR. ROMNEY: Are they sent home?

MR. McCAIN: Some of them are, some of them are not, depending on their situation.

You’d think that Mr. Romney wanted all illegal immigrants to be sent home. But minutes later, he told the moderator, Charles Gibson of ABC News, something completely different.

MR. GIBSON: Is it practical to take 12 million people and send them out of the country?

MR. ROMNEY: Is it practical? The answer is no. The answer is no.

Mr. Romney (who in the distant past — 2005 — called the McCain bill “reasonable”) stumbled further on a talk show, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” the next day. He struggled over whether the McCain bill could even be called “amnesty,” since it fined illegal immigrants $5,000.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you do believe his plan is amnesty then?

MR. ROMNEY: Not under a legal definition but under the normal, colloquial definition, yes.

Under the normal, colloquial definition, Mr. Romney is talking through his hat. But he isn’t alone. Except for Mr. McCain, the Republican candidates have skirted the issue or, worse, embraced the restrictionist approach known as “attrition.” That amounts to relentlessly tightening the screws in workplaces and homes until illegal immigrants magically, voluntarily disappear.

Making it work would require far more government intrusion into daily lives, with exponential increases in workplace raids and deportations. It would mean constant ID checks for everyone — citizens, too — with immigration police at the federal, state and local levels. It would mean enlisting bureaucrats and snoops to keep an eye on landlords, renters, laborers, loiterers and everyone who uses government services or gets sick.

Worst of all, it’s weak on law and order. It is a free pass to the violent criminals we urgently need to hunt down and deport. Attrition means waiting until we stumble across bad people hiding in the vast illegal immigrant haystack. Comprehensive reform, by bringing the undocumented out of the shadows, shrinks the haystack.

Fred Thompson has been perhaps the most vocal defender of attrition. But on Wednesday, the newly restrictionist Mike Huckabee one-upped him by signing the “No Amnesty” pledge of the nativist group NumbersUSA, formally committing to the principle that all 12 million illegal immigrants must be expelled. Americans, naturally, have no earthly idea how he would accomplish that.

Even if you accept the Republicans’ view of immigration policy as warfare against illegal immigrants, their tactics are the rejects of history, starting with that Vietnam-evoking “attrition.” The border wall is right from Monsieur Maginot’s playbook — fortifying just one of two international borders even though at least 40 percent of illegal immigrants arrive perfectly legally and then overstay their visas.

The attrition fantasy is now, by default, the national immigration strategy. The government is essentially committed to expelling all illegal immigrants, not assimilating them. Instead of bringing its power to bear, Washington has gladly handed the task to a motley collection of state and local governments, each enforcing its own rules, often at cross purposes.

Now, attrition is threatening to become a bipartisan disaster. The SAVE Act, an enforcement-only bill, was introduced last year by a Democrat, Representative Heath Shuler of North Carolina, and the notoriously restrictionist Republicans Brian Bilbray and Tom Tancredo. It is gaining sponsors.

The Republican stance on immigration leaves an opening that opponents could drive a truck through. The Democratic candidates have the better position but approach the subject with eggshell timidity. They should stand up for a real debate, and a better country, by forcefully challenging the Republicans on this issue.

'No Irish Need Apply'

By Suzanne Connolly (The Irish Emigrant)

Ciaran Staunton, speaking at the U.S.-Ireland Forum, Affinia Hotel in New York. 'If Romney got his way, it would see the end of the Irish community in America.'

The Queens businessman who brought presidential candidate Mitt Romney to task in front of an international audience over the Irish undocumented in New Hampshire last week said Romney wants to see the end of the Irish in America.

Speaking to The Irish Emigrant, Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform Vice-Chairman Ciaran Staunton, 44, said Romney's policies on the undocumented, if he made it to the White House, would spell disaster for Irish people across America.

"If Romney got his way, it would see the end of the Irish community in America," he said. "His policies prove he's living in the past and all forms of anti-immigration bigotry should be faced down. The Irish community stopped him in New Hampshire. The tide has turned on this because people stood up and said ‘enough.’ He's winding down his budget in New Hampshire now and focusing on other areas."

A week of media frenzy followed the New Hampshire showdown at the Romney “Ask Mitt Anything” showcase, which took place during the run-up to Tuesday's primary, where Mayo-born Staunton held a placard reading “No Irish Need Apply” as he sat in the front row of the audience.

However, the Romney camp was unapologetic for its stance and when asked how he felt the maelstrom of negative media attention would impact on his performance with the Irish voters. In a written statement provided by Romney’s campaign, the former governor explained the justification for his position.

“I strongly oppose an amnesty program that would automatically grant citizenship to the illegal immigrants already in this country,” Romney said in the statement.

The heated debate, which saw Staunton ask Romney “Have you no shame?” highlighted the undocumented issue to an international audience, with Staunton saying that of the 50,000 to 60,000 undocumented Irish in the country, “many of them are mothers and fathers of American children. Just remember that they're human beings,” he said.

Romney has taken a strong stance against comprehensive immigration reform during his campaign, said “illegal immigration presents numerous challenges for our communities. I believe it's important to end illegal immigration so we can maintain and encourage legal immigration.”

Romney added “securing our borders is the first means of addressing the problem of illegal immigration in our country. Next, we must create an employment verification system that is enforceable and tamper-proof, to ensure that we're only giving jobs to those who are here legally, and penalize employers who hire those without proper identification.

Romney has said the government should not provide any special privilege or pathway to citizenship for those here illegally.

"As governor of Massachusetts, I took action to address illegal immigration,” Romney said. “I stopped measures that would have provided driver's licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. I also took steps to deputize Massachusetts State Troopers to question, detain and arrest illegal immigrants. As president, I will enforce existing federal immigration laws and cut back funding to 'sanctuary cities' that encourage illegal immigration.”

Despite the negative backlash against Romney on the undocumented Irish issue, he said he is running for president “because I fervently believe that I have the experience and vision to address the issues facing our country.”

If elected, Romney aims to secure points of entry throughout the country, implement a “mandatory and enforceable employment verification system,” issue a biometrically-enabled and tamper-proof card to non-citizens and create a national database so employers can easily verify the legal status of non-citizens in this country.

Employers who employ the undocumented would be made “accountable” with stiffer fines and penalties, there would be no amnesty or "any special path to citizenship for those here illegally" and cities that are so-called "sanctuaries" for the undocumented would have federal funding cut back.

Romney's plans to eradicate the undocumented from America include opposing any special benefits for them, including opposing giving driver's licenses or in-state tuition to those here illegally. As president, he has pledged to cut back federal funding to states that do so and to end the policy of chain migration that allows the family of a child born here to live here.

By contrast, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and her ex-president husband agree with Republican Sen. John McCain's, R-Ariz., Immigration Bill to bring about progressive immigration reform.

Speaking last Saturday in New Hampshire, Bill Clinton said, “I think the humane thing to do here is to give the people that are here and are working and have no law problems, except that they're not here legally, a chance to work their way into legal citizenship. You know, the vast majority of these people are completely law abiding, and they pay taxes, even, but they're not here lawfully. I talk to people, you know, and I try to figure out what's going on. I think that is the fairer system. It’s also consistent with the bill that Sen. McCain supported in the Senate.

“I think it's the right thing to do, and so does Hillary.”

Go raibh maith agat Des!

Des Bishop raised an amazing $6,500 for the ILIR campaign in a one-off show in Yonkers on Friday night. His generosity is seriously appreciated by all the ILIR volunteers and supporters. We can't thank him enough for being such an all-round decent guy. We'd also like to apologize for the four individuals from Cork (you know who you are) whose behavior let themselves and their county down. Luckily for us, Des was able to ignore them. It was a brilliant night. The gig was a massive success and we hope Des comes back again soon!