February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The latest pot is beginning to simmer to the brim with bills from prominent senators with names such as Kennedy, McCain, Cornyn, Kyl and Hagel.
On Tuesday, yet another ingredient was added to the House pot when the Border and Immigration Enforcement Act was jointly introduced by Reps. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and James Sensenbrenner, chief architect of a bill earlier this year that added considerably more rigor to the process of issuing drivers’ licenses.
Nothing of the upcoming debate is going to be smooth or easy. Immigration is never less than a highly sensitive policy issue, one that fires up all manner of emotional reaction from political leaders.
There are clearly sharply diverging views in Congress over the future course of a nation that while forged by immigrants, lately finds it more difficult to assimilate the millions of people who still want to come here, whether they have permission or not.
The Irish view of where things should proceed has been made plain in an official sense by the Irish government, and indeed by all the political parties represented in the Irish parliament.
Irish America’s view is less clear. Sure, certain Irish-American politicians have spoken out; the position of the various immigrant advice centers is no secret, though they tend to be careful in their words.
But it’s fair to say that by no means all Irish Americans think of the plight of the Irish when somebody raises the subject of immigration.
The undocumented Irish, though they may number in the tens of thousands, comprise only a small percentage of a total undocumented population that runs into the millions.
With that in mind, the emergence of a new Irish advocacy group, the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, is a welcome development. As with the IIRM in former years, it will be important to have individuals who can explain to legislators and the broader media what is at stake for Irish America as the debate on reform gathers pace in the new year.
This will not be an easy task for the simple reason that the debate will not focus solely on immigration law.
Since Sept. 11, the reform issue has become entangled with concerns over national security to the point where the two seem inseparable.
The ILIR should adopt as one of its priorities the task of explaining that whatever else the undocumented Irish amount to, they do not pose any threat to this nation’s security.
Indeed, as with the generations of Irish before them, quite the reverse is true.