RTÉ ONE AIRED a powerful documentary last night on the undocumented Irish in the US during the Trump presidency.
Starting with personal interviews with Irish people living there, interspersed with clips of Trump talking about a deportation force – it was a difficult and emotional watch:
Among all the stories, David from Tralee hit home the most
He’s been in New York for the past four years – originally going there to play GAA. He found being abroad and having problems was a difficult combination:
“The first winter I came out here I broke my leg and had to have surgery. Idle hands for me are the devil’s playground as such. I started to bet online. I kind of just picked up where I left off at a certain point in my life because I had a gambling problem.”
And spoke eloquently about his loneliness as an undocumented immigrant:
“I had to got to meetings for alcohol and gambling – they’re two demons of mine as such. I guess when I first came here they were kind of crutches for me”
“Loneliness is the emotion I felt most, but didn’t realise I was feeling that. You can be lost inside in a bar”
He eventually started playing GAA again, and rediscovered his passion for carpentry. But without the ability to attain a full driving license, it’s just another obstacle he faces in his situation.
“Dating is a funny one, because you’d be kind of afraid to tell someone about your illegal status.”
“Obviously the big one is not being able to go back to my home town in Tralee. I got very close to one of my Uncles back there – he’s a great guy, he’s off the beer as well. I used to love going over to him on a Sunday, it was kind of like my tranquil place. He has a few recliners there and we’d pop up the seats and watch football.”
There is no difference between the undocumented Irish and those immigrants that get much harsher treatment, and David sees it every single day:
It’s not so much illegal immigrants – I think racism is the issue here, very much so aimed at the Hispanic community. I have to say some of the most racist people are the Irish and that’s being honest about it. I’m not saying all Irish here are bad but I think a lot of Irish guys have forgotten that one time they were on the boots of the people they are now racist towards.
And his final point dealt with a potential Irish amnesty, and how it doesn’t sit well with him:
A friend of mine he was kind of saying that ‘these guys are illegal here’ and I said to him ‘you know, I’m illegal too man.’ And he looked at me and said ‘ah, you’re different.’
I read there that Enda Kenny was coming over to push for amnesty for some Irish. I don’t see how socially correct that is – that we can get looked after and members of the Hispanic community can’t. I’m just like one of those people trying to get over that wall, you know?
It was the highlight of a particularly harrowing documentary
Everyone told their story well, but David from Tralee articulated something else entirely
Shining a light on something many undocumented must feel
It was genuinely touching television – of people doing their best in trying circumstances and realising that there are others in the same boat
You can find the one-off documentary on the RTÉ Player now.
