President makes citizenship special for Irish immigrants

By Stephen McKinley

Ellis Island may have closed for business in 1924, but last week immigrants walked through its historic halls once again, for a special ceremony.

Twenty-nine immigrants, among them four Irish, took the Pledge of Allegiance in a ceremony led by President George W. Bush on his first official visit to New York since he himself was sworn in as president.

One of the Irish immigrants at the July 10 event was Caroline Carty, who, with her husband, Michael, runs the Rosie O’Grady’s bar-restaurants in Midtown Manhattan.

Originally from Longford, Carty had gone for her citizenship interview on June 11. An official mentioned that people were being chosen at random for the special commemorative ceremony, where the immigrants would get to travel to the emotive island and meet the president.

"They called to say, yes, you’ve been picked," Carty said. "So we had to be down at Battery Park for 8 a.m., and then we took the ferry across to Ellis Island."

Once there, the group had a practice swearing-in, and by 10:45, everything was ready for the real thing.

"We had no idea what it would be like," Carty said. "And there we were, four feet away from Bush, Pataki, Hillary Clinton and Giuliani."

Immediately next to her were new citizens from Poland, England and Korea. And officiating at the podium was U.S. assistant attorney general Viet Dinh, himself an immigrant from Vietnam, who fled his homeland at age 10.

Afterward, the 29 new citizens met President Bush, Mayor Rudloph W. Giuliani, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, and Gov. George Pataki, whose grandfather came from County Louth.

In his speech, President Bush spoke lyrically about the place the island has in American history.

"This little piece of land, less than 30 acres in all, is like no other place in America," Bush said. "Twelve million souls arrived here, and would speak of the experience for the rest of their lives. They remembered the difficulties along with the joys. They remembered the long lines — never longer than on a single day in 1907, when more than 11,000 new immigrants filed through this hall. They remembered how loud it was here, and how confusing."

He also addressed the issue of immigration itself, and affirmed that it was an enduring and vital aspect of the American experience:

"Immigration is not a problem to be solved. It is a sign of a confident and successful nation. New arrivals should be greeted not with suspicion and resentment, but with openness and courtesy."

"It never occurred to me to take out citizenship," Carty said. "But then, with our business, it made sense to be more secure, and it makes it easier to travel back and forth from Ireland. And you also just get to like the country more and more."