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

Editorial 245i’s return

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The number of calls being received at immigration advice centers in recent days is a clear indication that an old problem — that of the undocumented Irish — is back in a revamped, all-new 21st century version.

It’s revamped in the sense that the reasons for young Irish people taking a chance in a not entirely welcoming America are not what they were in the 1980s when a slumping economy and soaring unemployment in Ireland were all but a giant finger pointing the way to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other U.S. destinations.

That’s far from the case now. And yet the Irish are still coming in numbers to the U.S. in pursuit of adventure, more pay, lower taxes, greater personal freedom, indeed any number of reasons. And the U.S. government should not be surprised. Over time, it has been a prime agent, for various motives, in telling the world that America is the land where dreams come true, where the individual can be what he or she wants to be. No government official, no elected legislator, can be surprised at the fact that the U.S. remains a magnet for all nationalities, including the Irish.

Many of those Irish are now seeking a way of remaining in the U.S. by means of Section 245i, the immigration provision that allows illegals to apply for a green card in the U.S. while avoiding the 3- and 10-year bars from the country that hang over all the undocumented like some sword of Damocles. Time, however, is not a friend in this instance, and 245i is scheduled for a second retirement on April 30. It can only he hoped that as many as possible undocumented Irish succeed in changing their status in the limited time available.

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