Unintended Consequences: The Story of Irish Immigration to the US and the Making and Breaking of Irish America

Immigration, once the well-source for a new nation, is today a word that is increasingly used to arouse political rancour and division while thousands of Irish yet live in the shadows. Here, Ray O'Hanlon examines the full historical background to Irish migration across the Atlantic and how it helped shape the young and expanding republic. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, ironically the brainchild of Ireland's cherished US President, John K Kennedy, brought a near total halt to this westward Irish flow. Nevertheless, the Irish would not be denied and continued to make the journey, no longer into the light of a full and legal American life, but rather into the shadows of an undocumented existence. Ray O'Hanlon has spent over three decades reporting on battles over comprehensive US immigration reform, and Unintended Consequences is the story of the Irish past, its present, and most uncertain future in the land of the free, home of the brave.