Undocumented Irish in the US for far too long

Securing status under Biden priority

- LAURA COLGAN

• Taoiseach wants visas easier to get

SECURING undocumented Irish people's status in America is a top priority for our Government while Joe Biden is in the White House, the Taoiseach has said.

Biden, whose maternal great-great-grandfather came from Ballina, Co Mayo and whose paternal great-great grandparents hail from Co Louth, is working to reverse some Donald Trump-era immigration restrictions.

Biden, 80, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, 44, are both attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

Mr Varadkar said: "I know he [Biden] takes a liberal view on immigration. It's hard to get changes through the Congress at the moment.

"But there are undocumented people here for far too long.

"We've done a lot of schemes at home in Ireland to deal with that and we'd like to see the US do something similar."

Mr Varadkar also said he would like to make it easier for Irish people to secure visas to live and work in the US.

He said: "People want to come here for experience and visas are hard to get compared to we'd say Canada and Australia.

"I think that limits the opportunities for people.

"It is an area of focus and it would have been the same in my contacts with President Trump.