Luck of the Irish

With the crackdwon on illegal immigration, earlier patterns of travel are reversed. This article tells the story of an Irish couple on their way back to Ireland after seven years of illegal stay in the United States. Although they were in the United States for a very long time, they were constantly denied the right to become legal citizens. Therefore, they had no choice but to return to Ireland, where they did not have to worry about the legality of their location.
This is sad because the Irish have been a huge part of America, Boston in particular, for over a century. Then, there was a massive immigration because of the potato famine that wrecked Ireland and starved the people. Now, the process is reversed. People are no longer able to seek refuge in the United States as they once were. Perhaps we should consider the process by which we allow people to become citizens -- because sometimes it just does not add up.