Peter and Mairead planned to raise their children, Wendy and Jay, in West Orange. Wendy, four years older than her brother, attended the local public school, and the Morris family lived the American life of which Mairead had dreamed.
However, in 1972, Mairead and Peter decided to move back to Ireland, after all. Abandoning their original plan, Mairead decided that she wanted Wendy and Jay to grow up alongside their cousins, who were around their age. As Mairead was the only one in her family who had immigrated to America, Mairead feared her children would feel isolated without relatives around. Additionally, when she spoke with her sisters and brother over the phone, she could not help but feel as though she were missing out when she heard their stories of time spent together.
As the economy developed in the 1960s, emigration decreased. By the 1970s, following Ireland’s entry into Europe, more people returned than left the country in a welcome break from the past.
–”Irish Immigration History,” University College Cork, Ireland
Once Wendy finished kindergarten, the family packed their West Orange home and moved to one they had just purchased in the South Dublin suburb of Tallaght. The town was developed in the early 1970s as a result of Dublin’s urban sprawl. Thousands of homes cropped up, organized in neat, repetitive rows. The Morris family, then, were among the first fleet of residents to settle down in the suburb.
Tallaght is working hard to overcome its heritage as a rundown commuter town. Grey residential estates and a total disregard for landscaping by its original developers have left Tallaght with a fairly heavy burden.
– Dublin.info
Mairead felt secure in her decision to move back to Ireland. Yet, any potential anxiety was placated by her awareness that she and her family could return to America, if desired. As both Wendy and Jay were born within the United States, the whole family was guaranteed an avenue to legally re-enter the country due to their birthright American citizenship.
“I knew when my kids grow up, they were not going to stay in Ireland.”
While the family lived in Tallaght, Peter continued to work as a bartender. Mairead enrolled both of their children in a local Catholic school. This decision was not due to any particular religious conviction. At the time and still today, the vast majority of primary schools in Ireland were Catholic.
Wendy and Jay rode a double-decker bus to and from town for school. When he first enrolled, Jay was the smallest in his class, “with lovely blonde hair and lovely eyes.” Wendy sat with the other girls in her grade on the top level. Mairead was anxious about sending her youngest off to school for the first time. She worried her tiny son would be kidnapped, or, worse, “fall off the foocking bus.” She instructed Wendy to keep an eye on her brother from her spot upstairs to ensure he remained safe.
Ireland’s primary school system is dominated by schools with a Catholic ethos. There are currently 3,104 Catholic primary schools, representing 89 percent of all schools at that level. The near monopoly of Catholic primary schools in Ireland is a product of Ireland’s history and the belief systems of the Irish population. Ireland’s primary schools were set up in 1831 as part of a national school system, which was state supported.
– Cora O’Farrell, “Religious Education in the Early Years: An Irish Perspective”
As Mairead had hoped, Jay and Wendy spent lots of time with their cousins. Her parents and siblings lived only ten minutes away; their families saw each other nearly every day. Yet, despite being reunited with her family, Mairead felt unsettled.
Mairead grew increasingly “homesick” for America. Every time she heard an American accent, whether on television or on the streets of Dublin, she held back tears, a pit in her stomach. After six years back in Ireland, Mairead felt that she and her family belonged in America, after all.
She described her feelings to Peter and concluded, “I think we go back.” Peter was receptive to this abrupt change in plans, but there was one problem: Mairead and Peter had been outside of the U.S. for longer than twelve months, which effectively voided their visas.
There were well-known loopholes. “I was ready to come through Canada. At that time, it was easier. You could come through Canada in a car, or whatever. But I didn’t want to do anything wrong, you know, and get into trouble.”
A permanent resident (called lawful permanent resident or LPR) or conditional resident (CR) who has remained outside the United States for longer than one year, or beyond the validity period of a Re-entry Permit, will require a new immigrant visa to enter the United States and resume permanent residence.
–U.S. Department of State– Bureau of Consular Affairs
Peter decided that he would return to America himself to work out these visa issues. Whether or not he could make it into the country to do so was uncertain; he could be turned away by customs officials due to his green card’s expiration. Meanwhile, Mairead avoided her neighbors for days, keeping Peter’s trip under wraps.
“I would be too embarrassed to tell [them] if he didn’t get back in, they wouldn’t understand the green card bullshit.”
Due to this fear of shame, only Mairead’s parents, sisters, and brother knew of she and Peter’s attempt to return to the States. She waited anxiously for word from Peter, who promised to call once he landed.
***
Mairead was outside watering her flowers when her neighbor Mrs. Elliot beckoned her from her front door. A sweet, elderly woman, Mrs. Elliot let Mairead’s family use her telephone whenever they needed, as they did not have one of their own. Mrs. Elliot called, “come here, it’s Peter!”
Mairead hurried across the street. When she picked up the phone, she immediately discerned the excitement in Peter’s voice. Yelling over the noise of the bustling Newark Airport, Peter declared, “I’m in, I made it.” John, his old roommate, was on his way to pick him up.
Mairead was thrilled. She urged him to stay put in America. He somehow made it through customs despite his expired green card, but there was no guarantee that he would be so lucky again.
Peter stayed at John’s place in Morristown, New Jersey. Morristown is a populous town in Northern New Jersey, known for its rich colonial-era history. It served as a site for the American army’s winter quarters during the Revolutionary War; George Washington’s headquarters are a popular attraction. Upon his arrival, Peter promptly hired a local immigration attorney to handle the task of obtaining new green cards.
The process was a slow one. Peter remained in America for about ten months as he waited for the attorney to finish. Finally, Mairead received a letter from the American embassy instructing she and Peter to appear for a medical exam.
Though a seemingly unremarkable, routine part of immigrant processing, this step held special meaning to those familiar with the procedure. “Once you’re called for the medical, you’ve passed everything else. They don’t give you a medical just because, you know?” With this auspicious sign, Mairead phoned Peter.
“Oh my God, come home. We have to be at the medical at nine o ‘clock on Monday morning.”
It was Thursday. Peter quickly booked a flight home, and Mairead bought tickets for the whole family to fly to America Monday night, following their medical exam. Over the next few days, Mairead packed her family’s belongings. Her brother Brendan helped her put the Tallaght home up for rent. Much like the first time Peter and Mairead left Ireland for America, their family did so in a hurry.
The morning light shone through the windshield of Peter’s Ford Cortina as they drove down the R137 road into Dublin that Monday. Mairead looked out the window and admired the expansive Dublin skyline, unsure when she might see it again.
After their thorough medical exams at the embassy, which included a long list of medical questions and a battery of tests, Mairead and Peter were issued updated green cards.
That very evening, they and their children sat side by side on a plane heading back to America.