On
June 28, the Irish Government, through its transparent
lobbying surrogate, the Irish Legal Immigration
Reform Movement (ILIR), will once again descend
on Washington, in an effort to promote the U.S.
Senate's emasculating immigration legislation. ILIR
is an amalgamation of the unrepresentative, though
disproportionately vocal, Irish Left and a handful
of ideologically aberrant GOPers who persist in
propagating Dubya's disconnected, elitist "cheap
labor" gospel. There is, after all, a reason
why the President is ranking so abysmally in the
opinion polls, even among Republicans and Conservatives.
Ultimately,
however, ILIR is a creature of the Irish Government.
When ILIR agitates, it is the government, or, more
specifically, the mandarins of Iveagh House, talking.
When ILIR acts in concert with extreme left wing,
anti - American groups like La Raza and ANSWER,
it is strategizing with the full knowledge and blessing
of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Far from being
a spontaneous manifestation of post Sept 11 Irish
America, ILIR first saw the light of day thanks
to a healthy infusion of Irish punts, er, sorry,
Irish Euros courtesy of Iveagh House. Since its
inception, it has received the repeated endorsements
of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Foreign Minister Dermot
Ahern, other members of the Oireachtas, Sinn Fein
President Gerry Adams, and members of the SDLP.
Indeed,
Dermot Ahern recently saw fit to reward ILIR with
a nice financial "atta boy", in the form
of another significant injection of lolly, just
after that entity had attempted to embarrass the
powerful chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives
Homeland Security Committee, and long time staunch
advocate of the Irish American political agenda,
Peter King. In a classic case of "How not to
Legalize the Irish", ILIR, through its juvenile,
egotistical antics, has succeeded in alienating
several powerful GOP representatives like King,
House Majority Whip Congressman Roy Blunt, and Congressman
Tom Tancredo, chairman of the 100 member House Congressional
Immigration Reform Caucus, among others. Tancredo
has become so offended by ILIR that in March he
publicly rebuked the Irish Government, its surrogate
ILIR, and the Dail for their interference in the
domestic affairs of the United States; an unprecedented
criticism in the relationship between the Southern
Irish state and the United States. There's one for
the history books! These, of course, are representatives
who have a natural empathy for the Irish predicament
and who would have been disposed towards helping
us.
To
exacerbate an already serious situation, Fine Gael
leader Enda Kenny wants to implement a "Tallaght
Strategy", in order to enhance ILIRs destructive
campaign. He wants an all party delegation of TDs
and senators to fly to Washington to join it, on
June 28. Such a move is guaranteed to garner further
ire, hostility and resentment.
Let's
clarify what the Irish Government, through its surrogate
ILIR, wants the Irish American community to support,
and the U.S. Congress to enact. Dublin wants us
to legalize 12 million illegal aliens, i.e. 3.5%
of the current U.S. population, in an effort to
regularize the status of, at most, 10,000 undocumented
Irish, and that's an over generous figure. Unlike
the microscopic number of Irish, the vast majority
of that 12 million, mainly Mexican, are uneducated,
unskilled and speak no English. Once legalized they
will become net beneficiaries of our welfare system.
They will contribute little if anything in the way
of taxes. The U.S. Senate has already recognized
this reality by ensuring that amnesty recipients
will qualify for the earned income tax credit.
Based
on the experience of the last 30 years, and, indeed,
on the experience of recent illegal immigration
rallies, this influx would prove difficult , if
not unwilling, to assimilate. They will ghettoize
and balkanize further weakening the bonds of U.S.
nationhood. The Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish,
I think not! But that's not the worst!
Scholars
from the authoritative Washington Think Tank, the
Heritage Center estimate that because of our overly
generous family preference admissions system, this
initial 12 million will have metamorphosed into
60 million, within 25 years. That is, in 25 years,
almost one quarter of the U.S. population will be
foreign born, mainly Mexican, non English speaking,
uneducated, unassimilated beneficiaries of our welfare
system. There is, of course no free lunch in life.
Somebody has to pay the piper. This great social
upheaval will be bankrolled by crippling taxes on
the U.S. middle class, until, that is, the middle
class has been taxed out of existence. Hundreds
of thousands of solid blue collar union jobs - ironically
the kind of jobs that propelled the Irish and other
immigrant groups into the middle class - will be
obliterated in a Tsunami of cheap labor. The United
States will become an emasculated, balkanized, Third
World economic basket case. Ironically, just like
Mexico, with a rich elite at the pinnacle, an insignificant
middle class, and a large impoverished underclass.
One can count more than one of our European "allies"
that would relish this scenario: Une, deux, trois
. . . Ein, zwei, drei . . .
For
the sake of elucidation, let's frame this scenario
in an Irish context. Imagine, if you will, a minister
announcing to the Dail that the government has decided
it is in the national interest to immediately grant
residency permits to 125,000 immigrants - 3.5% of
the current Irish population. However, this number
will mushroom to 750,000 foreign-born residents
within 25 years, i.e., almost a quarter of the population.
The influx will be mostly uneducated and unskilled.
The new arrivals will not speak English, let alone
focal gaeilge ar bith. They will ghettoize and balkanize
the country, averse to assimilation as they will
be. If nationalists and unionists had a problem
coexisting, even though they are 99% culturally
similar, then you have seen nothing yet! This influx
will provide a gigantic pool of cheap labor for
corporate Ireland. In doing so, it will obliterate
the standard of living of native blue collar workers.
Because they will earn so little - cheap labor after
all! - the new arrivals will pay little if anything
in taxes. However, they and their families will
still have to be fed, clothed, housed and educated.
Luckily, however, they will be eligible for a whole
host of welfare benefits. However, somebody will
have to bankroll this major expansion of the Irish
welfare state, so taxes will have to increase dramatically,
primarily, of course, on the already tax oppressed
middle class, who can't normally avail of expensive,
creative accountants. Because taxation will become
so punitive to support this largesse, the standard
of living of the middle class will decline drastically
in a short period of time. Amhran na Bhfiann in
Spanish!!!!
Such
a proposal would quite correctly be greeted with
outrage by the Irish electorate. It would be political
suicide. The electoral fortunes of the politicians
who conceived of such a ridiculous proposal would
rightly be very bleak. Yet, this is exactly what
the Irish political establishment wants Irish Americans
to support and the U.S. Congress to enact. When
Irish Americans, like the vast majority of the U.S.
electorate, resist such destructive legislation,
we are branded as unsophisticates, bigots and racists
by the Left and by the elites, Republican and Democrat
alike, the would -be beneficiaries of any Tsunami
of cheap labor. Somebody has to mow those country
club fairways. Why pay a young American college
student a decent wage, when Jose from Mexico will
do so for a pittance???
Of
course, Irish Americans want to legalize the current
crop of undocumented Irish. More importantly they
want to implement a permanent solution to the Irish
immigration problem by establishing an annual, realistic
visa quota. As many GOP/Conservative representatives
will vouch, there are commonsensical, nuanced and
creative ways of resolving this challenge, instead
of cheering on destructive Senate legislation, which
is anathema to our cultural and economic interests.
Die-hard opponents of the Senate legislation like
Pete King, Roy Blunt, John Sweeney, indeed most
of the GOP caucus, would have no objection in principle
with "Legalizing the Irish". English speaking,
well educated, skilled, easily assimilable, the
Irish are in Congressman Blunt's words "just
the kind of immigrants we need". However, these
opportunities decrease proportionately every time
extremist ILIR opens its mouth to promote the Senate's
"Dissolve America Act", and to ridicule
its congressional opponents, our natural allies.
Even
though poll after poll shows a consistent opposition
of more than 80% among the U.S. electorate, and
by extrapolation among the Irish American community,
why does the Irish political establishment persist
in supporting the emasculating Senate legislation,
the "McKennedy National Suicide Bill"???
One interpretation is that it is self constrained
by a Brussels effected political correctness. It
may also be a victim of the failure to cultivate
a broader U.S. political spectrum, resulting in
its exclusive exposure to the polarized partisan
advice of the Irish Left. Well they are the the
kindly interpretations. A less kindly one is that
in the era of an evolving "Common European
Foreign Policy", Iveagh House is pursuing a
European agenda at the behest of our Franco - German
"allies", who must savor the thought of
Uncle Sam laid low.
Here's a proposal that will allow the Irish political
establishment to prove it s bonafides and show the
way to us morally deficient, racist and bigoted
Irish Americans. Let the mandarins of Iveagh House
take full page adverts, in all the Spanish language
publications across the United States, exhorting
illegals to come one, come all, to the nearest Irish
Consulate to receive a residency permit to dwell
in the economically booming Celtic Tiger. Arrangements
will even be made with Aer Lingus to fly them there,
at taxpayer expense. No background checks, no awkward
questions and absolutely no pressure to assimilate!
Once the Celtic Tiger has reached its intake of
3.5 % of its population - or 125,000 - then, perhaps,
we morally inferior, unsophisticated Irish Americans
will be shamed into action. After all, what's good
for the goose is good for the gander! We won't hold
our collective breath!
Ultimately,
how will Irish Americans perceive an Irish political
establishment that so zealously inserts itself in
U.S. domestic affairs, to promote legislation that
would destroy our livelihoods and seriously destabilize
the United States??? Considering that it has so
flippantly surrendered Irish sovereignty to a Franco-
German alliance, masquerading as a "European
Union", the Irish establishment's disregard
for the integrity of U.S. sovereignty should not
be surprising. To quote Michael Collins, "there's
more than a stretch of water between them and us"
and, unfortunately, the chasm between Irish America
and the Irish establishment is growing ever wider.
Perhaps, we should anticipate an Irish American
version of the Boston Tea Party. This time it won't
be the product of the East India Company going over
the side, but the Lyons' and the Barry's.
Patrick
Hurley is President of the Regular Republican Club,
30th AD, Inc. in Woodside, Queens, New York City.
He is a member of the Queens County executive of
the Republican Party. In 2003, he was the GOP/Conservative
candidate for the NYC Council in the 26th CD. He
is currently president of the County Cork Association
of New York, one of the largest Irish American organizations
in the Tri State area. In 1987, he was a co founder
of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement, a grassroots
lobbying organization that went onto secure thousands
of green cards for the then burgeoning illegal Irish
community.
