CONCERNS THAT IMMIGRATION agents may target undocumented Irish people during St Patrick’s Day festivities in the United States have not been raised with the Taoiseach. 

With increased reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities, Irish-American lawyers and politicians had raised fears that St Patrick’s Day festivities in the United States would be used to target undocumented Irish.

The issue of the undocumented Irish came into sharp focus after the story of Seamus Culleton, from Kilkenny, made world headlines. 

Asked if he was concerned ICE agents may swoop on St Patrick’s Day festivities taking place over the weekend and into Tuesday in the US, the Taoiseach said:

We haven’t picked that up from people we’ve been talking to.

“All the various groups I’ve met yesterday have not raised that with me, but obviously there are concerns more generally, apart from St Patrick’s Day, in respect of the undocumented.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee has said previously that there are fewer than a dozen cases of Irish immigrants being held in ICE facilities in the US. 

Asked if he will raise those cases with US President Donald Trump when he meets him in the White House on Tuesday, Martin said: 

“We’ve been constantly raising it to our consular services and so forth. And each case can be different. Again, every country has its rules and has its laws. The challenges here in more recent times are obvious politically on the migration front, but it’s also been difficult to get consensus on any one ethnic group.”

The Taoiseach highlighted that in recent years the Irish government has pushed hard to regularise the Irish undocumented in America, mentioning efforts for Ireland to be allocated Australia’s surplus visas.

“It’s a very difficult issue here in terms of getting progression. In my own view, I would have been involved in an earlier period when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs and getting the graduate visa through… and it’s a point I’ll be making, and I continue to make, to the US administration, if we can get mutual legal pathways for the younger generations today to continue the tradition of that historic and foundational relationship between Ireland and the United States,” said the Taoiseach. 

Martin has said his engagements in Philadelphia have “reassured” him of the strength of the Irish-American connection as he took part in the St Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday.

Seamus Culleton

Meanwhile, in Boston today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee was asked about the case of Culleton, who was picked up by ICE agents while residing in Massachusetts. 

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Asked what steps the Government is taking to secure his release, McEntee said:

“Every country has their own immigration rules, and it’s important that we don’t step into that, but at the same time, we are providing and will continue to provide the support and the resources that our citizens need, particularly when they find themselves in difficulty.” 

She confirmed that there are “about five active cases at the moment” that the Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of in relation to Irish citizens in the US who ICE has targeted. 

Includes reporting from Jane Matthews in Boston.