[caption id="attachment_71579" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="President Higgins had a packed itinerary during his New York and Boston visit. He is pictured here with his wife Sabina sharing a good laugh with Malachy McCourt during the official reception for him hosted by the Irish Consulate. Higgins photonyc.com."]
With emigration from Ireland reaching levels not seen in living memory, President Michael D. Higgins not surprisingly covered emigration and immigration during his U.S. visit last week.
He did so in word and overt gesture, two of the main stops in the New York leg of his week-long stay being the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Queens and the Aisling Irish Center on McLean Avenue in Yonkers where the president took time to meet Irish immigrants in one of the more active Irish neighborhoods in the metropolitan area.
Higgins, during his Emerald Isle stop, where he was welcomed by chairman Brian O'Dwyer, praised the work of the center and its staff, who are preparing to mark emerald Isle's 25th anniversary.
"What is important is the kind of solidarity you show, the care, the instinct to look at strangers as someone like yourself," said the president of the work carried out by the center's staff.
"We were thrilled with the opportunity to showcase the work of our staff and we were all delighted to have been part of the president's inaugural visit to the United States," said executive director, Siobhan Dennehy.
President higgins told the EIIC gathering that the difficulties being experienced by the undocumented Irish continued to be a major concern.
"Here at the Emerald Isle Center, you have played a major role in ensuring that the particular challenges faced by the undocumented Irish are highlighted and addressed. The value of the work that you do with the undocumented, including with those who have been detained or who may face deportation, cannot be overstated," he said.
Speaking at the Aisling Center, President Higgins expressed his particular appreciation to the center's executive director, Orla Kelleher, to the members of the board, and to all of their colleagues.
"I am deeply appreciative of the contribution the Aisling Center makes to the welfare of the community, and particularly to those most vulnerable, here in Yonkers and the surrounding areas.
"I know that the Aisling Center has benefited from financial support under the Emigrant Support Program in recent years and it is heartening to see that this funding has been put to such good use, especially in providing frontline services to the elderly and socially disadvantaged," he said.
