Undocumented migrants: Sorry, I can’t be home for Christmas

Allan Defiesta's sixth Christmas in Ireland will be a quiet one, a far cry from the extravaganza of holiday celebration in his native Philippines.

“Christmas in the Philippines is a big, big deal,” he says. “We have family dinners and reconnect with friends – it’s about togetherness and unity.

“I grew up with that kind of festive mood, and then moved to a country where I feel isolated and unrecognised, because I’m undocumented.”

The 43-year-old came to Ireland to look after his nephew – who has leukemia – leaving behind his wife and two sons. He is a caregiver in Dublin, and is one of more than 20,000 undocumented migrants living and working in the country, according to estimates from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.

The NGO organised a group of undocumented parents and children to meet outside Leinster House this morning, and they marked International Migrants Day, (December 18th), by calling on the government to let them regularise their status and live and work in the country legally, without the fear of being deported.

“We’re clear about how Irish emigrants have contributed (to their host countries) and we’re proud of it,” said Helen Lowry, community work coordinator at the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. “But we’re benefiting enormously from immigrant workers here, who are touching lives and helping society function, and the irony is in not recognising the contributions these people are making.”

There is a level of hypocrisy and denial when Taoiseach Enda Kenny called for reform of American immigration laws to help the undocumented Irish in the US, but not enough is being done in the State, Lowry said.

The NGO is proposing an Earned Regularisation Scheme to give undocumented migrants in Ireland an opportunity to obtain permanent residency status through criteria such as working, paying taxes and contributing to the community within a fixed time period.

“We’re proposing the scheme so that undocumented people no longer need to live in fear and shadows,” Defiesta said. “So that we can have the chance to see our families again.”

Debra Sanipa (55), also from the Philippines, looks after a 92-year-old man in Sandymount and has been in Ireland for eight years. The mother of two and grandmother of six, she said her family are always asking when she will return home. “They want me to be there to take photos (with them in front of the) Christmas tree,” she said.

Priya (38), who asked that her surname be withheld, calls her mother in Mauritius daily, and tells her mother she will return the next year every time the question comes up. "It's not good to lie to your mother," said the cleaner and housekeeper, whose visa expired in 2012. "But what can I do? I have to keep her happy and give her hope."

Undocumented in Ireland

The United Nations have estimated that the number of international migrants worldwide last year reached 232 million. Of those, 20-30 million are undocumented migrants.

No official figure exists of Ireland’s population of undocumented migrants – people who are born outside the country and come here to live and work, but have no legal permission to reside in the country.

"By definition it is impossible to state with any accuracy the number of persons without lawful permission to remain in the State," said Andrew Kelly, spokesman at the Department of Justice and Equality. "Any estimates that may be in the public domain are therefore speculative in nature."

A majority of undocumented migrants enter the country legally and later fall into irregularity, by overstaying student or tourist visas, or other visa violations, according to Ms Lowry from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. Some enter Ireland with false documents or cross the porous border with Northern Ireland.

Compared to other European Economic Area countries, “we are falling behind,” says Ms Lowry. “We’ve had decades of immigration without a comprehensive mechanism to regularise the status of undocumented migrants.”

Schemes introduced, such as bridging visas, were ad hoc, she says.

At the moment, undocumented migrants who apply for permission to remain have their cases considered by Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service officials, explained Kelly from DJE. Part of this consideration involves looking at the circumstances through which they became undocumented.

Exploitative conditions

“If you have the papers you can work legally and at a proper rate,” says Priya. She says she had been earning an hourly rate of €5 at a previous job, minding children, cleaning, cooking and doing laundry for a family in Blanchardstown.

Her husband, who is also in Ireland as an undocumented migrant, had once worked from 2pm to midnight for €40, she said. The minimum hourly wage in Ireland is €6.92.

Mostofa Chowdhury, who runs Foley’s Indian Cuisine in Templemore, Co Tipperary, left Bangladesh for Ireland the day after his wedding, only to discover after arrival that the working visa he had been granted was valid for just two months. Chowdhury has been in the country for 12 years as an undocumented person. Despite living hand to mouth without any savings, he cannot plan on investing to expand the business because he fears being deported at any time.

“Twelve years is a long journey,” he says. “If I go back (to Bangladesh), how can I start over?”

Mr Chowdhury said his sole worry is his son, Ryan, born in Ireland in 2010. (His wife joined him in Ireland in 2005 through a UK visit visa that got her into Belfast.)

Children born in the country to undocumented parents will be undocumented when they are older, but “he has only ever known Ireland as home,” says Mr Chowdhury.