PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT

Thursday 31 JULY 2025 - In today’s edition.....

Irish in America illegally looking both ways these days.....Waiting for the other tariff shoe to drop...Mike Huckabee’s slander...Padraig Harrington's golf greatness...Gerry Adams’s movie.

DOZENS OF IRISH IN AMERICA FACING DEPORTATION. THOUSANDS LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDER.

The fact that we’re talking “dozens” instead of thousands says a lot about the targets of the current immigration crackdown. It’s not the Irish. Nevertheless, there have been calls to the local Irish consulate from Irish citizens already arrested or fearing arrest and deportation. Data obtained by the Sunday Independent shows there were 35 males and 21 females arrested, with the majority in Boston, New Jersey or New York. They are mostly young people in their 20s who overstayed their three-month tourist visas. It’s somewhat reliably estimated that there are 10,000 undocumented Irish citizens in America today. In 1985 there were anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000. Here’s the story of how one Irishwoman from Santa Cruz got caught up in the big, beautiful sweep.

Cliona Ward with unidentified friend is now back in Santa Cruz.

RELIEF FROM TARIFF GRIEF WITH FIFTEEN PER CENT SETTLEMENT

President Trump just changed the rules of the trade game with Euro nations at a golf course he owns in Scotland. "This means American-based companies will have to pay an extra 15% in tax to the US government on any goods they buy from the EU." That's the thumbnail. Here's teh big picture. STILL TO BE DETERMINED is how much that tariff tax will be in the Dairy and Spirits Sector of goods from Ireland. Dairy products and whiskey. The stuff from Ireland you and I buy. Did Europe and Ireland give away the store? Time may tell. Speaking of Trump and Scotland, has the President ever mixed business with pleasure like this?

CAN AMBASSADOR HUCKABEE REALLY BE THAT THICK?

Mike Huckabee. our ambassador to Israel, recently described the Irish as having “fallen into a vat of Guinness," said that they were committing an act of "diplomatic drunkenness" and told Ireland to “sober up” - this on X in response to the Irish government's desire to pass the "Occupied Territories Bill." The Dail will vote in the Fall whether to put a lid on imports of goods from Israeli settlements, which the Irish government consider Palestinian, but which are occupied by Israeli settlers.Taoiseach Micheal Martin's response, "I think Israel needs to focus on ending the war that is slaughtering innocent children and civilians." The AOH demanded an apology as Huckabee's language "revives 19th‑century anti‑Irish caricatures and distracts from any serious diplomatic discussion."

Huckabee's language "revives 19th‑century anti‑Irish caricatures."

UK READY TO APPROVE PALESTINE FOR U.N.

In May of 2024, Ireland along with Spain and Norway formally recognized Palestine as a sovereign state and acknowledged its right to exist. Just this past week, France and the United Kingdom have announced they will do the same in September unless there's a cease fire in Gaza. Palestine has 149 of 193 nations on its side. But to become a U.N. member nation it will need nine of the 15 votes on the Security Council, which, with U.S. opposition, it doesn't currently have.

CONVINCING IRISH CATHOLICS TO BECOME COPS

It's harder than you would think trying to make the Protestant-dominant Police Services Northern Ireland (PSNI) more Catholic. Liam Kelly is trying like hell. He's the head of the police union. He's apparently the first Catholic ever to hold such a post. He's not the only one trying against opposition from the Orange Order.

Liam Kelly, head of the police officer union in NI since 2022.

ORANGE VERSUS GREEN IS A REAL THING

Next time you're in Ireland check out the Battle of the Boyne Museum and check out what color the guides are wearing. THE OFFICE OF Public Works (OPW) has banned tour guides from wearing green or orange clothing at the site in Meath where the Protestant King William III defeated the Catholic King James II in the Battle of the Boyne. Some Irish Americans can't believe it still riles people up on either side when you're wearing green (meaning you're a Nationalist who supports One Ireland) or orange (meaning you're a Loyalist who wants to remain in the UK). It's a really worthwhile experience visiting the site of that fateful battle back in 1690.

SHOCKING! DUBLIN HOTELS RAISING RATES WHEN OASIS IN TOWN

This is not a mirage. Hotel prices anywhere near Croke Park, where the Gallagher boys will bring their band to play Aug. 16 & 17, are going to be double what you usually pay. The lowest rate per night will be about 400 euros ($459.19). One five-star hostelry, which usually charges 700 euros a night ($803.57) for a queen-sized room, will charge 1800 euros ($2066.33) per night with a "free" breakfast thrown in. Oasis tickets, if you can get them, will run you more than $1,000 per.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON – IRELAND'S SECOND GREATEST GOLFER

With all the excitement Rory McIlroy’s been stirring up lately, one might forget about the greatness of Padraig Harrington. The Dublin native educated in an Irish Christian Brothers School just scored a major accomplishment by winning the British Senior Open. The win followed Harrington's recent victory in the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs. Harrington now has three wins in majors on the senior tour to match his three majors on the PGA tour. He is also now a member of an elite club of players to have won both the Open and Senior Open. Who’s greater, Rory or Padraig? Harrington may never have been ranked number one in the golf world like Rory, BUT PADRAIG IS REPORTEDLY A DISTANT COUSIN OF PORTLAND’S OWN JOEY HARRINGTON! He grew up in Dublin. His dad was a Garda who had an excellent GAA career. (Not a lot of pro golfers have Gaelicized versions of first names. Padraig = Patrick.)

Padraig Harrington. Is he really a distant cousin of Portland's Joey Harrington?

GERRY ADAMS AND "BAD ASSASSINS"

What might be the best line in the new Gerry Adams documentary, A Ballymurphy Man, comes from Gerry himself talking about various efforts by Loyalists to kill him, “I’ve been blessed with very bad assassins.” The documentary is out now but when it might stream widely or play here in Portland is a bit of a mystery. PDX HI will keep you informed. Don’t expect a warts- and-all approach from the director, “There are no dissenting voices to challenge him or tricky questions to navigate. He is relaxed and affable, giving a thoughtful assessment of the past and his part in bringing Northern Ireland from war to peace,” wrote the reviewer in Screen Daily.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It used to be if you had a green card [permanent residency] you felt safe and you felt secure. There is more of a fear element now." Chris Devenney told the BBC. He's general manager of The Celtic House, a bar and restaurant 20 minutes from the White House. Devenney is originally from Derry and first came to the US on a J-1 exchange visitor visa during the Obama years. He now has U.S. citizenship.

PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT Volume Three - Number Fifty-Eight – 31 July 2025

More than an email. Much less than a newspaper. Now delivered pretty early every Thursday morning. Published by The Portland Hibernian Society.

Getting sent back to Ireland

Oregon + Ireland