With an immigration blitz currently taking place in the US – could the undocumented Irish be next?

On Moncrieff, the Irish Examiner’s Sean Murray said it is estimated that there are currently 10,000 undocumented Irish people living in America.

“The Irish government estimates there are around 10,000 still undocumented Irish in the States, which is obviously a big number,” he said.

“It's not that big a number in the context of the overall millions and millions of undocumented people, but obviously, from an Irish point of view, it's really important to us.

“These are people living and working in their communities - they've been contributing to their communities for years,

“[We need to be] trying to find a path for them to make sure that they can regularise their status, because they can't even come home, etc.”

United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during the Shamrock Bowl Presentation at the White House in Washington, DC on March 15th, 2018. Credit: Alex Edelman/CNP/AdMedia/Newscom/Alamy Live News

Mr Murray went to the US in the fourth week of Trump's new administration to gauge the mood and the temperature amongst the Irish immigrant communities.

He said he had assumed the undocumented Irish immigrants in the States would be working cash or under the table jobs, but he was wrong.

“There's lots of people who worked on construction sites, they worked in hospitality [and] they pay their taxes because of the kind of system [they have] over there,” Mr Murray said.

“They might have had social security numbers, which is their version of a PPS number, from when they went over maybe on a student work visa, and they still have that, even though they're kind of not entitled to still be there.

“There is ways of obtaining a social security number that's maybe not so legal, etc, as well.

“For years, there's not been the kind of crackdown on those kind of aspects there.”

President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Mr Murray said it struck him how wary it was to live and work in the US but not have the right to live there.

“This really struck me how they make it so easy for you to live and work in so many ways but then you don't have status to actually be there,” he said.

“It could be as simple as getting pulled over for speeding, like kind of minor enough crimes that don't have maybe a heavy sentence in the United States - but that could put you onto a database that could flag you as a person that they need to remove from the country.

“So, it could be just a case of really bad luck if someone gets caught in the wrong situation.”

Mr Murray said immigration lawyers in the US have said it doesn’t matter if you’re Irish of Latin America – the deportations have gotten very serious.

“I spoke to a lot of immigration lawyers and the one thing they kept saying is just listen to what Trump is saying - listen to what his people are saying,” he said.

“[Some of Trump’s aides] make the point that if there's a raid and you're undocumented, it doesn't matter what colour you are, what creed you are, if you are undocumented you're illegally living here, you're an ‘alien’ and you can get caught up in that.”

Former US president Donald Trump on the 4th hole at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Co. Clare, during his visit to Ireland. Picture date: Thursday May 4, 2023.

Mr Murray said there are a small number of Irish people deported from the US every year but if a few hundred are deported over the next year or two, it’s a “sizeable chunk” of the undocumented Irish community in the US.

Listen back here:

Miniature Irish and American flags used as a table decoration at a 4th of July party. Image: Alamy