By Debbie McGoldrick

“We don’t want to be in the shadows,” said Malcolm*, an undocumented immigrant from Northern Ireland.

Malcolm, who has lived in the U.S. since 1999 and works as a bricklayer in Manhattan, was speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) at Manhattan’s Affinia Hotel last Friday night.

Like the many other undocumented Irish people who attended the meeting, Malcolm said time was running out and the ILIR came just in the nick of it.

“I was lucky I got a driver’s license when I first came to America. It was better than a green card because I could get work. I was never going to get a green card, but I could drive and that meant a better job for me,” he said.

“But it is already up and I cannot renew it because I don’t have a Social Security number. I lost my job when I lost my license and I have had to rely on other lads giving me word of work and public transport to get where I need to go. Life has changed for me, the freedom I had is gone and I feel like I am in the shadows.

“I don’t want to be there and I am hoping that joining this lobby group will change things again,” he added.

Hoping for change and making it happen are two different things said another undocumented immigrant, Teresa*.

“A group of us had already joined together to try and make a difference, but we felt we didn’t have the big names to help us. Now with ILIR we do and it is brilliant,” she said.

For the many undocumented — and nobody can really ascertain how many there are — time is really running out.

“On every street in the Irish neighbourhoods you hear people saying they are leaving because it is getting too unfriendly for us here. We are getting checked at airports in the U.S., we are losing out licenses, our jobs, we are here longer and the time has grown since we last saw our families. People are really sad and people are really afraid. They came here to stay and they want to stay, this is the only chance we have now,” said Lisa* another immigrant who is out of status.

“I really feel a part of something,” said another undocumented man, Noel*. “I think there’s a real fire in the community for this. If we can all get together, we can do it.”

Since the 1990’s there has been no immigration reform lobby group representing Irish people. With the formation of ILIR, the Irish community is confident that though the battle is uphill, they will fight hard.

The only thing they say is against them is time. Experts say the first three months of 2006 are crucial to the immigration debate. But there is no telling how soon change could come and if it will be in favour of the undocumented or against them.

“If we could have a time on when we could do it, it would help, everyone is leaving between this Christmas and next Christmas,” said Sharon* who was planning on leaving her nanny job to go back to Ireland next autumn. She has been in the United States since 2003.

“This lobby group is really giving me hope, especially because so many came out for it. I thought it was a trick that I would be picked up by the immigration officers but when I saw the Irish Voice and Bruce Morrison here, I knew real work was being done.

“But we don’t really know what to do, where to begin. I hope they can tell me what I have to do so I can have a work permit next year, because then I’ll stay.”

Sharon said things are getting difficult for her, and she has had to change nanny jobs three times. “People are really getting scared of hiring illegals now. It’s so much easier for lads I think, they can pick up work easy enough, but it has been hard for me. I end up making less money each time I move, everyone wants legal nannies now because America is really looking at us all now.”

Larry* came to New York in 2000. After a failed relationship in Ireland, he came to find a new life in America. Until September 11, he felt he made the right decision.

“I used to go home and see the mother twice a year. But that stopped that first Christmas after September 11. I haven’t been home since. I have never even seen the Euro!” he told the Irish Voice.

“People say to me all the time, why don’t you just come home, Ireland is doing so well. For the same reasons that not everybody comes to New York, not everybody wants to live in Ireland. What people in Ireland forget is that because they live in Ireland they think its great but it’s really not. It’s high stress, high maintenance, a bit like a nightmare girlfriend.

“I am not running from anything in Ireland, and I don’t want to be running away from here. I want to stay and I am going to work to stay. That is why I came here tonight. We will save ourselves.”

*Names have been changed.