Fine Gael TD for Donegal North East, Joe McHugh, has made a direct pitch to the group of American legislators who now hold the key to the futures of 50,000 Irish citizens who live in the USA without documentation.
Joe McHugh TD
The Immigration Reform Bill 2013 has been passed by the Democrat controlled US Senate, and is now before the US House of Representatives, where the Republican Party holds a parliamentary majority.
Boston College and the US State Department brought Deputy McHugh and eleven other policy makers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to Boston and Washington DC in September to contribute to the Joined-up and Crosscutting Thinking in Policy Development Programme.
Whilst in Boston and Washington, Deputy McHugh met with immigration reform advocacy groups and with a number of Congressmen and American political leaders to push for visa status for Irish citizens who are undocumented in America.
Deputy McHugh said: ‘The US Senate has passed the Immigration Reform 2013 Bill, which offers visa status to immigrants who live in the USA without documentation.
“The legislation will become law if it is passed by the US House of Representatives and then signed by President Obama. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the Bill, so its enactment now relies on the House of Representatives, which has a Republican Party majority.
“Members of the House of Representatives now hold the key to the futures of 50,000 Irish citizens who live in the USA without documentation, 12,000 of whom live in the greater Boston area. Enactment of this legislation would enable undocumented Irish citizens to return home to visit loved ones, without fear of not being able to get back into the USA’.
Deputy McHugh pointed out that deportation of the 11 million people who live illegally in the USA would cost the American taxpayers $285 billion.
“I emphasised this point to Congressmen whom I met in Boston and Washington DC earlier this month, including Congressman Kevin Brady (Republican, Texas), Chairperson of the Congress Joint Economic Committee, who described the immigration reform legislation as ‘difficult but doable’. I also emphasised the increased contribution that the 50,000 affected Irish immigrants would be able to make to America, were they to be granted visa status.
“I will continue to engage with the legislators whom I met about this Immigration Reform Bill, and this week I have written to 41 key Republic Congressmen, to emphasise the benefits for America of enacting the new law.
“I have also raised the matter in the Dáil this week with An Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore TD, Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, who is making a strong case for reform on behalf of the Irish Government.”
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