Times Square, New York
The festive period is a particularly tough time for Irish people living illegally in the United States – many of whom have been unable to come home for years.
The Undocumented soy can not leave their homes without losing all they have built there.
For them this is a time when the loss of family connections is felt more keenly than ever. One local expat, undocumented and living in New York, told us about the special resonance Christmas has for him and his loved ones.
“You miss family most at this time of year Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, it’s very hard. This is my 16th Christmas away from home. A lot of people have gone home. In the place where I work six or eight people shipped off last week.
“At this stage I’m lucky enough to have my own family here. I’ve three children aged 4, 11 and 12 so I make the best of it. I would love to be able to go home one Christmas with them. But when you have your own children, your own family that makes it a little bit easier. Still it would be better if one Christmas you could jump on the plane and go home and spend it with all your relatives.
“It would be great if the kids could go home and see all their cousins. I must have 20 or 25 cousins at home. Then there’s the grandparents, uncles, aunts and it would be great to go home one year and meet them all.
“With every passing year everybody is getting a bit older so it’s hard. You start thinking about how many Christmases there might be left.
“It’s not realistic for the family to come out. There’s only one of me here and there’s six sisters at home so I wouldn’t expect my parents to come over and spend it with me when there’s so many more at home in Ireland.
“I’d like to think the undocumented issue could be resolved. It’s a hot issue right now. The lead Republican candidate, Donald Trump has raised it and it’s a major issue. Obama’s law is going to the Supreme Court in June. If we get that ruling in June then there should still be time to get it sorted out before he leaves office. But right now it’s really hard to know. It’s our best hope right now, that or the Irish Government doing something on a visa waiver programme.
“If I thought could be stepping on to a plane this time next year there would be no words to describe it. If there’s movement I’d be home next year without a doubt, it wouldn’t even be something I had to think about.”
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