McCain Pledges Path to Legalization for 50,000 Illegal Irish Immigrants

Posted by Satyam, Think Progress at 5:02 PM on September 22, 2008.

In a town hall today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that as president, he would ensure that 50,000 "illegal" Irish immigrants residing in the United States could find a "path to citizenship:"

There are 50,000 Irish men and women who are in this country illegally at this time, who are hard-working people, who want to become citizens. And I want to assure you that we will enact comprehensive immigration reform, after they do certain things, obviously, give them a path to citizenship in this country as part of an overall immigration reform package.

McCain said that the United States has been "enriched" from "Irish, Italian, Pol[ish]" immigrants. He later included "our Hispanic citizenry" in his list. Watch it:



In right-wing speak, this proposal is called "amnesty."

Previously, McCain ditched his support of immigration reform because of right-wing opposition to "open borders" with Mexico and "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants. Does McCain support making all 9.36 million Hispanic immigrants citizens as well?

Tagged as: immigrants, mccain, irish immigrants