Ireland’s undocumented immigrants have penned a letter of support to their American counterparts, coinciding with the Irish Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, D.C., Thursday:
We know your struggle. We feel your pain. We understand only too well the fear you live with.
Being undocumented – staying undocumented – is not an easy life to live. Missing celebrations, missing funerals, missing your family every single moment of every day. Living in constant fear of deportation, of that knock on the door, that inspector on the bus as you go to work. Putting up with abuse at work because you can’t complain.
We know why you do it. The lives you live in America, we live in Ireland.
We know the journey of hope all migrants go on, uprooting yourself, stepping into the unknown, working for a better future for you and your family. We know the sacrifices you have made and continue to make. We know the dark moments of doubt and the burden of this decision. And we know that things were already difficult and now you have a president who thrives on fear and hate, who refuses to listen to reason, who doesn’t respect the contributions you have made to communities and society and the economy.
We want to say you are not alone in this time of trouble. Many are there with you and we are standing with you here tonight and every night. We care about you and your lives and your safety. We are right behind you. We have your backs.
The estimated 25,000 undocumented immigrants living in Ireland have been fighting for legalization for years. And while Taoiseach Enda Kenny has at times criticized Donald Trump for his immigration rhetoric, immigration activists in Ireland are calling on him and other Irish leaders to also remember their own undocumented families.
Helen Lowry, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, during a rally in Dublin this week:
"The solidarity rally is also making a very strong point to our Taoiseach Enda Kenny on his journey to Washington that there are undocumented migrants here in Ireland in exactly the same situation as the undocumented in the United States".
"We need a regularisation introduced in to this country that recognises the reality that people are now here long term. They are working, they are raising families, they've got deep roots in communities up and down the country".
Despite being an ocean apart, Ireland’s immigrants want to let immigrants under attack by Trump in the U.S. know that their shared fight for justice unite them:
We will not give up our shared struggle. We will keep fighting until undocumented people have a pathway to papers. We will remind our political leaders that we are still here.
But right now we extend a hand of friendship and a shoulder of strength to you – our fellow people, undocumented and documented, in the Irish community and in all communities in the USA this St. Patrick’s Day.
Stay strong. Keep hope alive. Don’t give up.
Beir bua agus beannacht (may victory and blessings be yours),
Undocumented migrants from the Justice for the Undocumented campaign, Ireland.