To the editor:

It’s a wonderful month — “Irish Heritage Month,” and like many of you I am a descendent of Irish immigrants. 

My grandparents left Ireland in the 1920’s and immigrated to Newport, R.I. Life in Ireland at the time was hard. My grandmother grew up in Dublin. Life was horrendous due to poverty and oppression by the English. 

Her father participated in the 1916 Easter Uprising against the British. He was arrested and jailed. His wife and children were separated and placed in the workhouse for three years. My grandmother was 7. People would rather be arrested for a crime and go to jail than go to the workhouse. My grandfather followed his siblings to Newport, leaving poverty in Adrigole, County Cork.

My grandparents had three children after they married in St. Mary’s Church (the church John F. Kennedy and Jackie were married in). When their children were born, they may very well have been in the country illegally, having overstayed their visas; it’s hard to tell from the documents that I have. Should my mother and her brothers have been denied birthright citizenship because of their parents’ legal status?

I’m writing now because of the anti-immigration policies in our country today. The majority of U.S. citizens are decedents of ancestors who immigrated from somewhere else, seeking a better life and today’s immigrants are no different. As we celebrate our heritage, let us welcome today’s immigrants to America’s “melting pot,” remembering not too long ago we were the immigrants seeking a better life.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Lori MacDonald

Portsmouth