Galway immigration campaigner becomes US citizen

A Galway man who emigrated to Chicago seventeen years ago and was named last year as one of the top ten American community leaders got US citizenship last week.

Billy Lawless and his wife Anne, who are considered ‘restaurant royalty’ in their adopted Chicago, were sworn in at a conferring ceremony on Thursday when they took the Oath of Allegiance and registered to vote.

They own the Gage gastropub and a restaurant, Henri, on Michigan Avenue, the Dawson in River West and the Irish Oak in Wrigleyville.

Billy is also a board member and co-founder of the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition and fights tirelessly for immigration reform.

A native of Rahoon, where his family ran a dairy business and` creamery, Billy was a publican in Galway City before becoming a hotelier (the Twelve Pins in Barna) before moving to Chicago in 1997.

It was his experience of immigration workers that led him to become involved in a campaign to seek reforms in that area. As a respected employer in the Windy City, Billy has become an unofficial port of call for many Galway and indeed Irish students in the city on J1 visas.

In the last decade he has become part of President Barack Obama’s inner circle having worked with him voluntarily when he was a Senator based in Chicago, and is a regular guest at the White House.

Billy Lawless is Chair of Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform and was described by IrishCentral.com as “a great activist on immigration issues, who made sure that Obama’s local Chicago operatives were well aware of the Irish American interest in reform. A tireless worker for new immigration legislation.”

The Lawlesses were joined on Thursday by their grown-up children who are also based in Chicago. They are John Paul, Amy, Clodagh and Billy.

Billy Lawless was the subject of Mark Brown’s column in the Chicago Sun Times at the weekend and a Senator congratulated him during his address on the Senate floor the day after the ceremony. It is an indication of how well the Rahoon man is regarded in Chicago and how powerful he has become in political and human rights circles on the other side of the Atlantic.

They visit Galway at least twice if not more a year and are as aware of the local political scene here as they are of Chicago’s politics.

Billy said he was thrilled to have become a US citizen saying he feels completely at home in his adopted city.