Ms Aileen Leonard Dibra:

I am sorry to say that I do not have the numbers we have with me. We will get them. With regard to deportations, they have been down in recent years. I wish my immigration analyst was here because he would know off the top of his head, but I believe there were 26 or 27 instances of Irish people being deported from the United States in the previous fiscal year, so the numbers are low. The interesting thing about the undocumented community currently in the United States, and Ms Kennelly touched on this, is the fact it is further withdrawn than it has ever been.

Right before Covid-19, we were in the midst of the previous Administration where there was very harsh rhetoric with regard to immigration and the undocumented in particular. Therefore, we already had people pulling back. Then we went right into the pandemic during which there were questions about what services and supports people would have, and US policies on things such as the public charge rule etc. very much compounded the fear that people who should be reaching out were not. We even saw that a little bit over the past couple of years with people seeking services through their immigration centres, which were still there and still supporting people on the front line. There was an anxiety there, however. We have, therefore, a population of people who have been battered down over the past six years and who are now just trying to figure out where they are going and what they are going to do.

Over the past couple of years, we saw what we had hoped would be congressional movement with a new Administration, which just got watered down, from what would at least have been the ideal pathway for people, down to a say on deportation and possible work authorisation, down to nothing. Our undocumented population here are always vulnerable. They are more vulnerable than ever at the moment in the sense of disappointment and ongoing fear and anxiety that has happened over recent years.