Cowen's welcome for U.S. measures on illegal immigrants 'hypocritical'

national | crime and justice | press release Friday January 09, 2004 11:08 by Allen - lp

Michael D. Higgins TD

“The statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Brian Cowen, in which he welcomed the announcement by President George Bush that his government was planning to regularise the position of undocumented foreign workers in the United States will strike many as an act of extraordinary hypocrisy given the Fianna Fail/PD government’s treatment of foreign workers who find themselves in a similar position in this country.

“While President Bush may have been motivated by economic considerations rather than humanitarian concerns, the move – limited as it is - will benefit many people working without documentation in the United States, among whom there are believed to be several thousand Irish citizens.

“However, Minister Cowen has a brass neck to welcome this move when his own government has shown little consideration and no sympathy for those who find themselves illegally in this country. All calls to regularise the position of even a proportion of those illegally in this country have been rejected by the government.

“Given the our long and painful history of emigration where large parts of entire generations were forced to flee this country because of economic need, one would have expected this government to operate an immigration policy that is sympathetic and human. Unfortunately the opposite has often been the case. Particularly since Michael McDowell was given responsibility for the Justice portfolio, illegal immigrants have been targeted for harsh and unsympathetic treatment. We now have the situation where the non-national parents of Irish born children are being deported with all the stress and hardship that this involves.

“ Clearly the government here expects other countries to extend to Irish people working without documentation a level of consideration that they are not willing to show to people in a similar situation in this country.”