By NiallO’Dowd

THERE were over 1,000 people at the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) rally in San Francisco on Thursday night. The crowd came from San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose and Seattle as well as the Bay Area.

Locals stated that they had not seen such a crowd at the United Irish Cultural Center since Gerry Adams made his first trip to the West Coast a decade ago.

The San Francisco event concluded the first phase of the ILIR formation that has seen huge crowds gather in venues such as New York (twice), Boston, Philadelphia and now San Francisco.

As I wrote here last week, organizers were so unsure of the extent of the problem that they put out 40 chairs at the first meeting, only to be overwhelmed by the numbers showing up. ILIR has come a long way since then. The crowds have come close to the 4,500 mark in just over two months and membership in the new organization already tops the 6,000 mark.

The question, of course, is what to do now, with an organization that has grown in such spectacular numbers in so short a time. There is no time for organizers to sit back on their laurels.

A monster lobbying day in Capitol Hill on March 8 is planned (for details go to www.irishlobbyusa.org) and the hearings on the immigration issue are set to begin in the Senate.

Of course, St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and this will ensure that the Irish community as well as the Irish government will get their say at the highest levels on this issue. Given the unrelenting bad news on the peace process in recent times, it might be an opportunity many Irish politicians will look forward to.

Certainly it might result in the White House in particular considering for the first time the Irish case as regards to the undocumented. In the recent past a simple and usually anodyne statement on the need for peace in the North has been the extent of the workout that White House speechmakers have had to undergo on March 17.

The timing of the surge of interest in the undocumented Irish issue could not be better. Indeed, last week Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will first consider immigration reform, released his chairman’s “mark,” his best guess as to where the legislation is headed.

The mark was good and bad news for the undocumented. There is a temporary worker program, which is good news, but as to how exactly it will work is unclear from the bill.

And that is what the legislative process is for. Over the next period there will be attempts on all sides to influence the bill, to tweak it in one direction or another. If a final form emerges from the Senate then it will go to a House/Senate conference where a definitive bill will be produced.

That is the upbeat scenario, however. In an election year and with such a volatile issue there are no guarantees at all.

Republicans are fearful of upsetting the huge Hispanic lobby as the election nears with a draconian enforcement-only bill. And Democrats do not want to be seen as soft on undocumented aliens in the era post-9/11.

A key aspect is that the American parliamentary system is weighed against any decisions being arrived at. In Ireland or Britain the prime minister could decree a solution and then with the help of a majority in Parliament ram it through in double quick time.

Not so here, where the checks and balances ensure an almost perpetual state of limbo. That was how the founding fathers, suspicious of any absolute power such as the British monarchy they had recently overthrown, framed their Constitution.

So in a worst case scenario nothing will happen. It is important to note, however, that there are other avenues to be explored, such as a bilateral deal between America and Ireland, which would allow an exchange of workers from both countries. Recently the Australians received such a deal that allows them 10,500 work visas a year to the U.S.

However, any such program between Ireland and America would have to include a provision for the undocumented already here, which would be a delicate matter to negotiate.

We should not forget, however, that the Morrison and Donnelly visa schemes which legalized the Irish in the 1990s came out of much broader immigration legislation that was being considered at the time.

Somehow a way must be found on this occasion also. We owe that to the young Irish who are merely pursuing their American dream like generations before them.