The immigration problem in the United States needs to be dealt with in a manner that aids families, according to possible Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with her speech likely to find favor with Irish immigrants in America. Clinton told donors at a private New York fundraising function that the comprehensive reform bill passed by the Senate in 2013 that failed to get to a vote in the House of Representatives should have been passed into law.
This bill would have given as many as 10,500 new E3 US visas to Irish immigrants in the United States. Clinton says it was a shame that it failed to go through Congress, a comment that insiders claim was a deliberate barb at John Boehner, the House speaker.
The fundraising event was one of three that took place in New York as part of Clinton’s burgeoning presidential campaign, during which she acknowledged the presence of a number of Irish “friends”. The New York senator and ex-secretary of state made her intention to run for the presidency known on December 12th last year. Her first campaign back in 2008 was criticized for her lukewarm stance on the issue of immigration reform and for coming out against giving driving licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Martin O’Malley, another possible Democratic presidential candidate and the former governor of Maryland, has criticized Clinton for changing her tune on the immigration issue, which is set to be a vital part of the battle for the White House next year.