With A Booming Economy Back Home And Anti-Illegal Immigration Demagoguery Here, No Irish Need Apply

The Queens Chronicle reports that the Irish immigrants of Queens are returning to Ireland:

Martin, 29, an illegal Irish immigrant who has been here for seven years, has had enough. He came to America looking for a better life, but has not been able to obtain legal status in this country. He will soon join the growing trend of Irish immigrants moving back to Ireland, where they can reap the benefits of a booming economy and legal citizenship.

“I’ve had enough of being a subject here. I have to find a life somewhere,” said Martin, who requested his last name be withheld.

Statistics show Martin is one of many Irish immigrants who are opting to return home as a result of the current immigration situation in the United States and the burgeoning economic state back home. According to Ireland’s Department of Social and Family Affairs, 132,000 Irish have returned since 2001, with more than 61,000 returning between 2002 and 2004.

In Queens, the flight of Irish immigrants has become very apparent. Neighborhoods like Woodside and Maspeth, formerly known as predominantly Irish enclaves, have taken on new identities, as Hispanics, Filipinos, and Koreans move in.

Maria, a 22 year old Irish immigrant who also requested her last name be withheld, is a bartender in Astoria and plans to study nursing at LaGuardia Community College. She came here a year and a half ago because she wanted to travel and see the world. She knows, however, that many who came to America for similar reasons will end up moving back.

“People are moving to Ireland because of the legal system in this country. The government doesn’t want to give us any legality or citizenship,” said Maria, adding that the irony of the situation is that, “there’s no such thing as a true American and I feel like this government has forgotten its roots.”

The article adds that that whole “Leave No Paddy Behind” thing hasn’t worked out so well:

Siobhan Dennehey, the executive director at Emerald Isle Immigration Center, said that while many immigration reform movements have lobbied to legalize the Irish, their exhaustive work has gone unanswered, possibly because the Irish are often overlooked as an immigrant population.

“The automatic assumption is that if you’re Irish you don’t have an immigration problem, which is quite far from the truth,” Dennehey said, adding that her colleague once told her, “our Irish ancestors helped build this country, build the roads, but we can’t drive on them, we can’t reap the benefits of which we’ve sown. That’s the Irish story.”

Dennehey also said that the public protests and marches supporting the legalization of the Irish have possibly done more harm than good, uncovering undocumented workers who had previously lived under the radar. “There has not been any positive sign,” said Dennehey, who cites the lack of improvement in legalizing immigrants and the Irish economy’s success story as reasons for the mass migration back across the Atlantic.