Sir, - I see from the Seanad Report (June 17th) that Senator Mary Henry, in the context of the upcoming Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking and Employment) Bill, wishes to have a debate on the treatment of illegals in the US. She is anxious that we will not be harsher to our illegals than they "have been" to Irish illegals. She refers particularly to the penalties imposed on US employers. While one could make a very strong case that the US, a country based almost entirely on immigration, is hardly a suitable role-model for Ireland, she might like to know of a report in Ireland on Sunday (June 14th) on current US practice.
That report refers to new US laws to curb illegals, which come into effect in January. It says: "Deportees from the US are treated as criminals, often paraded through airports and onto planes in shackles". (Incidentally one presumes that in any other context this would read, "handcuffs"). In relation to employers it says US employers are liable to be fined up to £10,000 for employing an illegal alien and can be struck off the register for state and city jobs. This is particularly effective in cracking down on construction companies, which traditionally employ non-visa holders.
It says: "Airlines are now obliged to reveal individuals' departure dates to American immigration authorities" (previous arrangements having been ineffective). Senator Henry wishes us to look at US practice over "the last two or three decades". Why she should see this as more appropriate than current practice is strange. Surely current practice better reflects the reality of current world-wide pressures, not to mention that we would be better advised to learn the lessons the US has learned, rather than go through the same learning curve.
The Bill is not yet available, as I write, but if it leaves penalties to the discretion of the court, other than a maximum. Perhaps striking repeat offenders off the list of those eligible for state and local authority contracts, as above, would concentrate the mind as little else. Naturally, the headline refers, as usual to "illegals", as did Ireland on Sunday. Illegals are just that; do not deserve quotation marks, no matter who or where they are, and are, indeed, criminals.
Apart from the practical effects of the proposed act, it is to be welcomed as laying the necessary foundation for a society which must learn to see the illegal immigrant as just that, a criminal and one which a citizen should be encouraged to report, as with any criminal. - Yours, etc., Aine Ni Chonaill, PRO,
Immigration Control Platform,
Clonakilty,
Co Cork.