Leo: Give no-doc Irish some status
Taoiseach’s plea to ‘regularise’ migrants ahead of Biden talks
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar yesterday urged the US to regularise the undocumented Irish.
He wants them to consider schemes similar to those used for undocumented migrants in Ireland.
But he said there should not be an amnesty nor should they receive preferential treatment over those from other countries.
Mr Varadkar said undocumented Irish could have to pay back taxes or face other penalties under such a scheme. Speaking in Boston, he said: “The key things I want to talk to him about is the Irish-american relationship, also about Ukraine and also the situation in Gaza. I hope we’ll have time to touch on other issues, including immigration.
“What I say when I come to America on the issue of undocumented here, and there are a lot of
Irish people here who are good people but are undocumented, many working very hard, have children here and are contributing a lot to society here.
“What I say to them is we, as a government, put in place schemes to regularise people who became undocumented for various reasons.
“We’re not asking you to do things we wouldn’t do. We’ve put schemes in place in Ireland to regularise people who are undocumented. It’s not an amnesty.” Mr
Varadkar also paid tribute to President Joe Biden as a “good friend” to Ireland.
He added: “We’ve a really good relationship with the US and we’ve a really good relationship with President Biden.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt a president to be on our side as much so I’m very keen to meet him again. I’ve met him many times over the years and he is a real supporter of Ireland and always wants to know what he can do to help.
“One of the things I’m going to be filling him in on is the situation in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Varadkar will meet Mr Biden tomorrow and at the White House on Sunday for the St Patrick’s Day shamrock ceremony.