Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan will be in Washington this week where he will lobby politicians on the plight of the Irish undocumented immigrants in the United States.
His visit follows President Donald Trumps controvesial directive at the weekend that bans new entrants from seven countries entering America.
In an interview with Ocean FM News in Sligo at the weekend, Mr Flanagan described the effort to find a solution for the thousands of undocumented Irish emigrants in the U.S. as ‘another great challenge.’
There are thousands of Irish immigrants in the U.S. — many from the North West — who are effectively in limbo.
Because of their so-called undocumented status, they are unable to return home for family occasions such as funerals and weddings.
Their position is now all the more precarious with the immediate tightening of immigration regulations under President Trump.
The plight of those Irish immigrants will be top of Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan’s agenda during his visit to Washington this week,
Speaking to Ocean FM News, Mr Flanagan says he is hopeful that progress can be made with the new Trump administration, adding that the issue has been ‘outstanding for far too long.”
Mr Flanagan says among the U.S. politicians he will be lobbying this week are those from President Trump’s Republican Party.
Many Irish immigrants who are now legal in the U.S. can thank former a Congressman and Immigration lawyer named Bruce Morrison.
He was responsible for the Morrison Visa program back in the 90’s, with thousands of Irish people receiving so-called Morrison Visas.
In some cases, it eventually to those immigrants becoming U.S. citizens.
Bruce Morrison says that with the Trump Administration now taking over, it’s time for the undocumented Irish to organise again:
The US president is defending his travel ban.
In posts on social media, he said only 109 people out of 325-thousand were detained and held for questioning at the weekend.
Donald Trump claims big problems at airports were caused by computer problems at Delta Airlines.
