Galway native leads drive for recognition of illegal Irish immigrants in US
Date Published: {J}
By John Cunningham
The official launch took place last week in Chicago of a new movement to try to win recognition for the thousands of young Irish who are living in the US as illegal immigrants – many of whom dare not come home for fear of being banned from returning to the US.And among those heading-up the alliance of about 200 Chicago area businesses is Galwayman Billy Lawless, now a successful restaurateur in Chicago, who attended last week’s function in Chicago Merchandise Mart at which the campaign for recognition was launched.
Chicago was the political ‘stomping ground’ of President Barack Obama and indeed Billy Lawless was one of the President’s St. Patrick’s Day guests in the White House, but the function last week was attended also by Republican former Governor, Jim Edgar, who is among those seeking support for the new campaign.
The new lobby group argued that there are about 540,000 illegal immigrants of all nationalities in the State of Illinois, but that recognition for them would actually result in billions of dollars in new economic activity.
At the function, representatives of restaurants, hotels, technology companies and other businesses with immigrant workers confirmed that they plan to lobby Illinois members of Congress to take up the issue this year. The statewide restaurant association plans a lobbying trip to Washington.
The new Illinois Business Immigration Coalition hope that the participation of former Golvernor Edgar may garner support from Republicans in Congress, where past immigration reform proposals have stalled.
President Obama has said he hopes to tackle immigration reform by the end of the year and has called for Republican support for the necessary changes. So far this year, a Democrat-sponsored bill has been introduced that would offer a path to legal status for over 10million ‘illegals.’
Among those who attended last week’s function in Chicago was Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish who welcomed the initiative involving people like Jim Edgar and Billy Lawless and said that such initiatives held out the hope for thousands of Irish in the US.Said Deputy Grealish: “I have dealt with a large number of people from the west who are in the States but do not have legal status and, for many of them, it is a very difficult situation.
“Many of them dare not come home ..... I have cases where they could not even come home to attend important family occasions such as weddings or funerals. This new lobby body could play an important role and it is good to see a Galway input from a person like Billy Lawless,” added Deputy Grealish.