I guess that since these illegals don't have a huge bloc of supporters urging that their staus be ignored, it is no surprise that they are departing for their homeland.

By now the shipping container carrying Jonathan Langan's material life in the United States has arrived in Ireland. The plush green furniture, his American flag and the construction tools of his trade are all gone from his Queens apartment.

Langan, a lanky, red-haired Irishman, was bidding a final farewell to his adopted country. He didn't leave for want of work -- his fledgling construction company was booming. Success was his problem. The more prosperous his company became, the more Langan feared he would get snared by immigration agents.
"You don't want to give off red flags because you're not supposed to be working," said Langan, 24, who lived illegally in the United States for three years. "It's too dangerous, what happens if you get caught."

The green is draining out of the Irish immigration boom that revitalized neighborhoods across New York over the past two decades. Fear of getting caught in a post-Sept. 11 net coupled with the booming economy in Ireland is drawing thousands of Irish back to the Emerald Isle. Numbers vary on how many have left: The Irish government estimates that about 14,000 Irish returned from the United States since 2001, with more than half of them coming from New York. The Census Bureau reported that between 2000 and 2004, the Irish population throughout the United States shrank by 28,500 people, to 128,000.

Now, if we could only get a certain larger group of illegal aliens to depart in similar proportions. But they won’t – their government does not want them back, and there is a segment of American society who choose ethnic solidarity over respect for the laws of the United States.

So instead, it's "Erin Go Home" and not "Hasta La Vista, Baby!"

Posted by: Greg at 11:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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