Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and Republican Senator John McCain yesterday unveiled a bipartisan Bill in the US Congress to reform the US immigration system.
The Bill could grant legal status to an estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants now in the United States, including many thousands of undocumented Irish.
Fine Gael Spokesman on emigrant affairs Paul Connaughton TD recently led a party delegation to New York and Washington to lobby for the Kennedy/McCain Immigration Act, which is designed to allow undocumented immigrants to achieve legal status.
The Bill would give illegal immigrants work permits and the opportunity to apply for permanent residence and eventually citizenship after paying a fine and fees. President George Bush last year proposed a programme to provide temporary legal status for undocumented workers already there and to match "willing workers" from around the world with "willing employers."