By Georgina Brennan

IN a spectacular turn of events, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, notoriously hesitant to pass any guest worker bill without first securing the border, told the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) at Senate immigration hearings last week that there was something wrong in the Senate bill because it did not fix the problem of Irish immigration restrictions.

“The ancestors of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could not legally come to this country and out of one million visas, only 2,000 went to the Irish. Why? How can I fix that?” he asked, reddening as he leaned over his podium.

“There is nothing in the Senate bill that fixes that. How can I fix that, tell me, how can I fix that?” he asked ILIR founder and Chairman Niall O’Dowd.

O’Dowd, joined by 35 ILIR volunteers who traveled on an early hour bus journey to Washington from Connecticut and New York, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week on the endangered species of the Irish in America because of tough immigration laws.

Both chambers, the Senate and the House, have held competing hearings this summer around the country and in Washington, D.C. At every one there is the presence of the white t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Legalize the Irish.”

Last week O’Dowd joined Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutie-rrez, representing the Bush administration in testimony, to speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee on why comprehensive immigration reform needs to happen now.

“The facts are clear to us. Without immigration reform the Irish-born community in the United States will no longer exist and one of the greatest contributors to the success of this nation will be no more,” said a grim O’Dowd before the hearing committee.

Speaking eloquently but pulling no punches, O’Dowd laid out the bare facts. “Our neighborhoods are disappearing, our community organizations are in steep decline. Our sporting and cultural organizations are deeply affected by the lack of emigration.

“Meanwhile, our un-documented community is under siege. They can no longer travel to Ireland, even when family tragedies occur. Their driver’s licenses will not be renewed which means mothers cannot drive their children to school. The day-to-day struggle of living illegally in America has taken a heavy personal toll on them.

“I submit that they deserve better. Every-thing they have worked years for in America, building their own American dream is now falling around them, and I submit that America will be the big loser.”

O’Dowd described how scores of Irish men and women toiled through the rubble in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks and were never asked about their status.

“They did no more than previous Irish generations. As President Bush has stated, ‘Throughout our history America has been greatly blessed by the innumerable contributions of the Irish.’ Unfortunately the contribution of Irish-born may be about to end. The sad reality is that there is simply no way for the overwhelming majority of Irish people to come to the United States legally at present.

“So when people say to me that the Irish should get in line to come here, I tell them there is no line we can join, no way the vast majority of our people can come legally to America. Such realities, however, have not stopped thousands of Irish doing what generations of Irish have done since they served in George Washington’s army — coming to America and living the American dream like generations before them.”

O’Dowd told the harrowing stories of undocumented people whose lives have been turned upside down as they have been stripped of their ability to travel, drive and many basic rights. To the hushed room, O’Dowd’s words hung heavy in the air. But he was not alone is telling truths.

Gutierrez, the former Kellogg cereal chairman who emigrated from Cuba at age seven, said President Bush is committed to comprehensive reform and that tougher enforcement will fail without expanding legal programs for low-skilled workers to enter the country.

“An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all,” Gutierrez said.

“How do we execute comprehensive reform? That execution can take on a lot of different avenues, but it needs to be comprehensive reform. The president has called for comprehensive reform that includes protecting our borders and recognizing the needs of our growing economy.”

He argued that new immigrants give the U.S. “a tremendous competitive advantage” over industrialized countries in Europe and Japan that have aging and declining populations and little experience assimilating immigrants.

“Immigrants aren’t crossing our borders to look for a handout. They’re seeking jobs that are available,” Gutierrez said.

“More than 500 of our nation’s top economists recently sent a letter to President Bush and Congress stating that immigration has been a net gain for American citizens. And two-thirds of American voters say they support bills that include a temporary worker program or path to citizenship, rather than one that focuses solely on border security.”

Gutierrez said this year the only thing politicians needed was good dialogue.

“What we need now is leadership and reasonable compromise in the middle. An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive, because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all,” he said.

Chairing the hearing, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsyl-vania, suggested that criticism of illegal immigration has taken on a xenophobic cast. Specter mentioned the Irish and the Polish and every other new wave that was at first shunned and now forms the fabric of America.

Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy first made mention of the by now familiar sight of Legalize the Irish t-shirts at the hearing and complained about the real lack of good dialogue on the issue, reading aloud the loaded title of one of this weeks hearings which will ask whether the Senate’s amnesty provisions repeat the mistakes of the past.

“This is what we’re faced with in trying to have a legitimate dialogue and debate,” Kennedy said.

In the rapid-fire questions and answers that followed his testimony, O’Dowd was asked by the attending senators what ILIR wanted.

“I want for the Irish what every other country has, visas. We don’t want to take visas from anyone else, we just want to be able to come to this country legally to continue the Irish American legacy,” he said.

And then Sessions asked him how to fix the Irish problem. Sessions has in the past been credited with such statements as, “I do not believe we should award people who have entered our country illegally, submitted a false Social Security number, worked illegally.” But Sessions was thrilled to shake the hands of the ILIR volunteers and offered to help them in their fight for legalization.

“What a change you are making to the minds of the top leaders here in Washington,” said one Capitol. Hill staffer to the ILIR volunteers. “I overheard two extremely high up House members talking about how the Irish are affecting the role of changing the minds of so many in Washington and how no matter what hearings are on, they turn up in busloads.”

Despite the last minute scheduling of hearings on the immigration debate, the ILIR volunteers are determined to dispatch buses to attend every hearing on the issue.

“Because the Legalize the Irish t-shirts have been seen at all the hearings and we’ve done interviews and educated people as to just how difficult it is to get a visa with the current immigration system in the United States, the hearings are turning into an opportunity to change minds,” said undocumented immigrant Nina.

Damien Halpen, 43, a plumber from Dublin who has lived in America for 15 years, says the best part about the ILIR road tour to attend every hearing is that the volunteers always have a good time.

“I love it, all of this. And I say to Senator Sessions, I want you to fix this. There should be visas for the Irish to come out to America. We don’t have a criminal problem, we all work. We just want to be legal so we can live our good lives,” he said.

Later, as the weary delegates piled onto their bus for the ride back home, faces around the Capitol nodded their greetings to the group and the volunteers decided there was only one thing they hadn’t done on their lobbying trips to D.C. — take a picture outside the White House.

So, just before heavy rain started, the group posed outside the building, joking that President Bush was probably watching them from his office window. “Next time, he might invite us in,” said Seamus Ryan.