Pat Dollard

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Belfast Telegraph:

The majority of “undocumented Irish” young people living illegally in America come from Fermanagh and Tyrone, the Assembly had been told.

New President Barack Obama intends to tackle the problem, according to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

Reporting on his recent week-long trip to the US, Mr McGuinness said the issue came up constantly.

There is an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 illegal Irish in the US, with the majority coming from Fermanagh and Tyrone.

Mr McGuinness said: “The issue of the undocumented Irish came up consistently and persistently at many of the engagements in which we were involved.

“There is no doubt that it is a matter with which the new Administration will grapple.

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LiveLeak News:

While leftist extremists looted a bank building in central London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown played host to new American president Barack Hussein Obama, fresh from Ireland where he “repeatedly” objected to illegal white Irish immigrants in the USA.

At the same time, Mr Obama has refused to comment, much less condemn, his own Kenyan aunt who has just been given leave to remain yet another year in America despite her breaking every immigration rule in the book.

Zeituni Onyango had an initial appearance in a US Immigration Court in Boston yesterday, where a judge set her case to be heard on Feb 4, 2010.

Mrs Onyango, who is the half sister of the President’s late father, was ordered to be deported in 2004 but has continued to live in public housing in Boston. Her claim to remain in the US is likely to centre on the argument that her safety would be in danger in Kenya, either because of political violence or her new-found celebrity.

Mrs Onyango, 56, wore a curly red wig and said nothing as she was led away from court with federal protection. Mr Obama has said he did not know his aunt was living in the US illegally and has refused to comment further.

This contrasts strongly with Mr Obama’s “repeated” objections to white Irish immigrants in America who might be there illegally.

According to Northern Ireland deputy First Minister and IRA stalwart Martin McGuinness, the majority of “undocumented Irish” young people living illegally in America come from Fermanagh and Tyrone.

“President Barack Obama intends to tackle the problem,” Mr McGuiness told the Northern Island assembly yesterday. Reporting on his recent week-long trip to the US, Mr McGuinness said the issue came up constantly.

He also said: “The issue of the undocumented Irish came up consistently and persistently at many of the engagements in which we were involved. There is no doubt that it is a matter with which the new Administration will grapple.”

Mr Obama’s wife Michelle, also hosted by Mr Brown, is most famous for this line from her graduate thesis at Princeton University: “There was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the black community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit the black community first and foremost.”

It comes therefore as no surprise that Mr Brown is so happy to be seen in Mr Obama’s company. Both, after all, have a lot in common.