Speaking in New York, where he announced an increase in the Irish government’s annual aid to U.S.-based Irish immigration centers, Cowen said: “The fact of the matter is, at the moment, with the post 9/11 situation, including the arrival of the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security, the new domestic legislation is certainly causing a lot of difficulties for undocumented Irish in a way the pre 9/11 situation didn’t impact on them.”
In the light of the new security arrangements, Cowen contended, the outlook for the undocumented Irish was poor.
“The political climate thus far, I’m advised, is not yet such that we can address these issues adequately,” the minister said. “We’ll continue to work with members of Congress and we’ll continue to make representations to the Bush administration, but we can’t guarantee success.”
Firmly emphasizing that immigration issues were first and foremost matters of domestic policy for the U.S. government, Cowen added that the Irish government would do all it could to address the current situation.
Cowen was speaking to reporters at the Irish Consulate in Manhattan where he met with members of the Irish Immigration Working Committee, a voluntary group that monitors the situation facing Irish immigrants.
The minister also supplied details of Irish government funding of $355,000 for a dozen immigration centers during the fiscal year 2003-04.
The figure represents a $55,000 increase over last year’s total but falls far short of a recommendation from the Irish government’s own Task Force on Policy regarding Emigrants, which presented its extensive research and recommendations to the minister last year.
The task force recommended a $2.3 million contribution to the centers for the upcoming fiscal year with the total rising to an annual figure of almost $7 million by 2005-06.
“We will continue to work with those Irish immigration organizations who are in the front line,” Cowen said. “Today we have demonstrated our continuing commitment to do so by providing some funds. Obviously, there is always a good argument to increase funds, but we all have to work within the parameters that are set out for us.”
Returning to the question of the outlook for the Irish undocumented, the minister made perhaps his most candid assessment of the situation to date: “The climate presently is not conducive to immediate reform in this area in a way that would solve the problems for undocumented Irish. That’s the reality. It’s a very unfortunate and difficult reality that people are contending with on a day-to-day basis, I appreciate that and we’ll continue to make representations and we’ll continue to push for it. And we will be guided by members of Congress who are themselves trying to develop a context where this might be considered positively in a way that it hasn’t been since 9/11.”
Meanwhile, the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in New York is organizing two buses to attend the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride rally and festival in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The two-week Freedom Ride, which involves buses converging on New York from a number of U.S. cities, is being modeled after the 1961 Freedom Rides of the U.S. civil rights movement.
Participants on the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride are attempting to mobilize national support for changing immigration policy to create a road to citizenship for all immigrant workers.
One bus will leave from 236th Street and Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn at 9:45 a.m. and a second bus will depart the Emerald Isle Woodside Office 60th Street and Woodside Avenue at 10 a.m.
Details on seat reservations are available at (718) 478-5502 in Queens or (718) 324-3039 in the Bronx.