OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Echo Editorial: To D.C.

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

It is not far fetched to argue, as does the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform’s Kelly Fincham, that a small turnout for the group’s lobby day in Washington D.C. next week will be reflected in larger lines for flights back to Ireland in the coming weeks and months.
Simply put, the clock is ticking with regard to a viable avenue for Irish migration to the United States, be it for reasons that are personal or economic, rooted simply in raw ambition or a sense of adventure.
The Irish story in America has always been a combined affair, a marriage of those born in Ireland and those with ancestral roots there.
That there is no longer a need for mass flight from Ireland for purely economic reasons is one of the most positive stories in living memory.
But if America, consciously or unconsciously, now almost entirely shuts the door to the Irish, it would be a profoundly negative one.
With this possibility as a backdrop it is to be hoped that as many as can spare the time head for Washington D.C. next week.
Once there, they can walk the corridors of the Capitol building, knock on doors and bend as many ears as possible to the message that it is unconscionable that present day and future Irish immigrants be denied the chance of playing a meaningful role in our nation’s future.

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