By April Drew

AS the sun rose early last Wednesday morning so did 20 passionate Irish people who are still fighting strong for our green cards.

We got on a bus outside Eileen’s Country Kitchen on McLean Avenue at 6 a.m. and headed south to Philadelphia.

Our mission for the day was to make ourselves seen and heard at one of the first “field hearings” on the immigration issue, and by god that is what we did.

As the bus rolled up to Independence Mall at 8:10 a.m. and as we rolled out into the rain with posters, banners and t-shirts in tow we were greeted by a group of Minutemen ( people who are on the border every “minute” of the day) who nastily told us to “Go home where you came from, go home now.” We responded with, “We are home, thank you.”

Thankfully the next gentleman we encountered was a third generation Irishman hailing from Co. Mayo. This was to be our lucky day.

There were only 50 seats available to the public for this hearing and the rest were given over to the media. Thanks to the ever wonderful Irish charm, all 20 ILIR representatives were granted access to the hearing.

Senator Arlen Specter, who is a strong supporter of the Senate bill S2611, chaired the hearing and had our good friend Senator Edward Kennedy by his side.

Before the hearing got underway Kennedy came to meet us outside and thanked us dearly for our attendance, and asked if we could possibly send some ILIR members to Miami this Monday to attend another hearing (which we did) and asked us to make him a promise, in his own words, “Promise me one thing, promise me you’ll be there on the day of the signing.”

Of course he got a heartfelt applause from us. We all got the goose bumps thinking of that day and how close we really are.

So at 10:30 a.m. sharp the hearing began. Witnesses were brought forward to testify for or against the day’s theme, “Comprehen-sive Immigration Reform: Examining the Need for a Guest Worker Program.”

First to speak was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He urged members of Congress “to move past this superficial debate over the definition of amnesty. Buzz words and polls should not dictate the nation’s policies.”

We were so impressed with the passion in his voice that we rewarded him with a round of applause. What we were unaware of, however, was the fact that inside a Judiciary hearing one is forbidden to applaud.

Chairman Specter respectfully told the audience to withhold their show of gratitude with a small grin on his face. Oops!

Also testifying on Mayor Bloomberg’s panel was Commissioner Sylvester Johnson of the Philadelphia Police Department and Mayor Barletta of the city of Hazelton, Pennsylvania.

The second panel was most informative and consisted of chief economist and director with the Department of Labor Ronald Bird and others.

They spoke about how immigrants were imperative to the success of economies both locally and at a national level. They all believed that the U.S. could not function without immigrants working the low end income jobs that American people will not do.

After hearing all nine speakers we had several questions for the panel. Unfortunately, an opportunity was not presented to the audience for questioning.

However, after the proceedings came to a close Specter gave favorable mention to members of ILIR. He said, “All the people in the white Legalize the Irish t-shirts may now applaud.” He went on to explain the rules of the house for such a hearing, but felt a little bit of flexibility was okay every now and then when deserved.

He then handed the microphone over to Kennedy, who went on to inform the audience when he looks outside his office window in Boston he can see the port where his ancestors arrived not so long ago. We definitely did not hold back the applause this time.

After the meeting was officially closed we were bombarded with requests from the media for interviews which we gladly gave. Several of them were astounded by our story. Even the minutemen who were present at the hearing could not believe that there was close to 50,000 undocumented Irish in the U.S.

Senator Specter came to thank us afterwards for attending and told us to remain positive that this bill will go our way.

It was an extremely positive day for the Irish. We all felt that we made a huge impact both with the media and the senators present.

We will continue this uphill battle until we are there on Capitol Hill standing beside Senator Kennedy for the signing of this bill that we strongly believe will pass. We must, however, keep on fighting and showing support wherever possible.

And remember, there are several other hearings coming up in the forthcoming weeks that need an Irish presence.

(April Drew is a New York-based member of ILIR).