Justice for the Undocumented

Irene Jagoba in conversation with Irma Bochorishvili

Justice for the Undocumented (JFU) is a community and campaign group made up of over 1,800 undocumented people. There are some 650 active members who regularly participate in our campaign for rights and regularization. This year has been incredibly busy for us. We have a strategy group that meets monthly to make campaign decisions as well as a social and solidarity group which I started with the first lockdown in March 2020 because many people lost their jobs and the number of people with depression increased. We started helping each other to cope with the pandemic. There are about 100 very active members in this. We also have a JFU Helping Hand group for folks who lost their family members back home, to fundraise among ourselves and help each other. JFU is about community and campaigns. We work together and ensure that the voices of the undocumented are heard and that the campaigns created are owned by them and led by them.

I have been a member of Justice for the Undocumented (JFU) for six years. JFU started in November 2009 when the first meeting was organized by six undocumented people who were the founding members. Half of them are still undocumented today. They started the campaign because they were undocumented, and living very difficult lives and they were looking for a solution. The Migrants’ Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) supported these founder members to set up this community and campaign and they began looking to expand their membership both in Dublin and all across Ireland. The founding members found it very challenging to recruit new members because of the fear of coming forward. Even I, when I first arrived here would simply not answer questions about my status, because I had to protect myself and my situation. However, over the years many of our members have overcome this fear and bravely shown their faces in marches, vigils, banner drops, selfies, press conferences, media pieces and even contributing to Oireachtas debates.

Because of MRCI’s good reputation and because people trust them, little by little JFU got started. It also gave people power when two of the founding members took courage and came out and publicly spoke about their situation. This was very powerful since some of the undocumented people who heard this also came forward and became members.

In the early days the founding members also went to the Dáil to present their stories, but at that time it was very difficult to get politicians to even hear you. They were not even aware of the situation and the fact that we even exist. We came up with several actions and key campaigns, including going on different constituency visits, banner drop, street parties, vigils, conducting research, talking to politicians, and many different initiatives. As time went by, little by little things changed. Our campaign has been like a roller coaster, sometimes we think that that’s it, it will happen, but eventually it does not. Even now, I don’t want to make any assumption, but now it really is looking like we will see the regularization we want soon since there is a clear commitment in the Programme for Government. Beforehand, even getting an appointment with TDs was not possible. So far, this year seems to be the best year for us.

One of the biggest challenges for undocumented people is exploitation in the workplace. Being undocumented, we cannot demand our rights. However, when we started joining this campaign and educated ourselves on our basic rights, things improved a little bit. Simple things are difficult and dangerous for us like finding safe work, reporting a crime or accessing healthcare. In fact, many undocumented people self-medicate as they are too afraid to go to the doctor in case they are asked for their PPS number. MRCI is very helpful to us in such cases. Another big problem is low salaries. Some employers just tell us that as we are undocumented they can pay us less. People who came forward and educated themselves now know what to do in such cases, so we are a bit more protected. We also organize the ‘Know Your Rights’ sessions so that people are informed about their rights.

As the JFU campaign organizer I am doing these sessions and we always try to update them as things change. It is important people know their rights, and even things such as reporting a crime are important as people often keep quiet because of fear. For instance, before being aware of this, when I was robbed and someone took over 5,000 euro, I kept quiet about it as I was afraid I would be investigated. Of course, access to third level education is difficult and we have a group called ‘Young, Paperless and Powerful’ who is working on this issue.

One of our biggest victories so far, that we refer to as a slice of cake, was the students’ scheme that regularized 3000 people in 2018. These peoples’ lives were changed when they were regularized, and they finally got to see their families, it was a dream come true for everybody who got this. Now, we are working hard to get not just the slice of a cake but the whole cake. There are currently 17,000-20,000 undocumented people from over 50 different nationalities in the country.

Before the last elections we campaigned hard to get the regularization into the Programme for Government. We tried to get this issue into different political parties’ manifestos. And once the government was formed, we started sending emails, planning actions to get the regularization into the programme. So far things look positive for us. Last June we got the regularisation included in the Program for the Government (PFG). We launched our (virtual) survey results by mid-October, and we got fantastic media coverage for our event.

In her speech, the Minister for Justice mentioned that regularization is their priority and the Department is working on getting the policy paper out in the coming weeks. In October 2020 we launched the survey and we expect to see the governement’s policy paper published very early in the new year. We want this regularization to be as broad and inclusive as possible so that nobody is left behind and it helps as many people who need it as possible.

We currently don’t know what the criteria will be however, we made a proposal to the Minister for a very broad and inclusive scheme and we are confident this is the approach they will take.

Most of us are here a very long time. 75% are here more than 5 years. I am here for 13 years for instance, there are people in the country for 16 and 20 years. Over 93% are working to support themselves. We work as frontline workers, we are there in the hospitals, in food delivery etc. and we have no choice but to work even during the pandemic, risking our lives and our health. We have to work in order to survive, there is nothing there for us if we don’t work.

Regularizing us will benefit all the undocumented. We keep repeating that for us being regularized will mean we can be full members of this society, we can live safely and securely in our home here in Ireland. On a personal level, regularizing us will be life-changing. I have not seen my children for 13 years and if I am regularized, I will be able to see them. The way things are now, I feel guilty for taking care of other people’s children while being far from my own children. This way I will be able to visit them, I will also be able to be in a better position when it comes to working. I have been very lucky to have supportive employers and am very grateful for it. But at the moment I am working in four or five different jobs to get by and to survive. Once I am regularized, this will improve. I will also be able to practice my art, as a balloon artist. I want to open a shop and now I cannot do that. This will be a huge help for all of us and we are so hopeful this will finally happen.