Members of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs are to pay a second visit to the US in the coming weeks to lobby legislators on behalf of an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people working in the country.
The visit will most likely be timed to take place in advance of an expected US senate vote on immigration reform. The committee paid a similar visit to the US last year.
Many undocumented Irish people are living and working in the US in fear. They have "no safety net", the committee heard yesterday.
Sheila Gleeson, executive director of the US-based Coalition of Irish Immigration Centres, said there were some 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US.
Calling for the committee to support comprehensive reform of the immigration process in the US, she noted the emergence of an "anti-immigrant consensus" in the US media.
Ms Gleeson said she knew of one young Irishwoman in the Boston area being "stalked" for some six months, but who was afraid to report it to police. In another case, a young west of Ireland man, injured in a fall from a roof, faced questions about his legal status from the police officer who responded to his emergency call.