Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was so determined to ensure that the immigration bill now being debated was "comprehensive" that he added the perfect touch: visa pork for his Irish friends. Now Schumer, long known as the senator from Wall Street for his courting of the big money boys who finance campaigns while they're not throwing the economy into the abyss, is jockeying to be known as the senator from Ireland.
Over the objection of some Republicans, including Iowa's Charles Grassley, who said there was no justification for "this special earmark for Ireland", Schumer has advanced his proposal to ensure an annual allocation of 10,500 E-3 visas to Irish nationals. Applicants are required to have no more preparation than a high school diploma or its equivalent in job experience. The visas would be renewable indefinitely, in two year increments, and would allow recipients the right to work and live in the United States. They would also be allowed to bring their spouses and children to live in the United States.
The "Schumer visas", as they are being called in the Irish press, are similar to special visas granted the Irish in 1990 at the behest of then Rep. Bruce Morrison. Morrison, by the way, is now a lobbyist for a group known as the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, which is hailing Schumer as its new best friend.
But the Morrison visas, which provided green cards to 48,000 Irish, sunsetted after three years. The Schumer visas will be a permanent feature of immigration law, assuming the Senate bill is passed in its current form.
"It has been a lifelong goal of mine to make sure that we have a permanent program for Irish immigration, not one that's there for a few years and then expires, which has occurred previously," Schumer told the Irish press.
At a mark-up session of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Schumer offered this implausible explanation: "What we're trying to do here is be fair." He said he wanted to deal with an unfortunate consequence of landmark 1965 immigration legislation, that had the effect of greatly reducing the availability of green cards to people from Ireland.
The law had the exact same effects on many other "old-immigration" countries, especially in Northern Europe, for whom no "special earmarks" have been proposed. So Schumer's claim to be seeking fairness doesn't hold up to a basic dictionary check.
Here are terms that my dictionary poured out after I searched for a definition of "fair": Marked by impartiality; free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism. Conforming to the established rules.
Schumer's courtship of the Irish, like his coddling of Wall Street, is rank opportunism. I offer that opinion as a graduate of Notre Dame. I'm a proud member of the Fighting Irish. Two of my dearest friends are named Whalen and Moran.
But I think that those who rig the law as blatantly as this undermine the credibility of government. We can't afford to lose any more.