February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
But Clodagh Murphy from County Wexford was undaunted. She stood before a sea of people in Chicago’s Grant Park Monday and reminded America that the Irish were in the front lines of the fight for immigration reform.
Murphy, who hails from a quiet spot between Enniscorthy and New Ross and speaks for Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform, was standing on a podium in front of a crowd estimated to have been in excess of 500,000.
Murphy, to huge cheers from the throng, reminded all present, and America beyond the Windy City limits, of the story of Annie Moore, the young Irishwoman who was the first immigrant to step ashore at Ellis Island more than 100 years ago.
Annie Moore made history. Clodagh Murphy made a point, and perhaps a little history too, in front of probably the largest crowd ever addressed by an Irish immigrant on U.S. soil.
On a day billed as “A Day Without an Immigrant,” last Monday saw the Irish march alongside other immigrant groups in large numbers in cities across the country.
But much of the Irish effort in support of comprehensive immigration reform was focused on calling state and federal legislators in support of a Senate compromise that would result in a path to earned legalization.
The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform’s Web site urged people to “let your fingers do the marching.”
“We thought it a much more targeted and focused way of getting our message across,” said ILIR executive chairperson Kelly Fincham.