Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy - tch, tch, tch

Remember poor old Jimmy Murphy who was barred from entering the US by immigration officials because he didn't file the proper paperwork to leave the country while his green card application was being processed? Well, the Limerick Leader provided us with an update over the weekend.

I read this and I thought, that's how to do it Jimmy. That's what you need to do.

Donald Dorn, Jimmy Murphy's lecturer in Ethics in Criminal Justice, was alerted to his student's plight through the Limerick Leader worldwide website. Having read last week's edition, he established contacts with this newspaper. Mr Dorn compiled a case and brought it to the attention of Iowa US Congressman Steve King. Mr King's assistant, Mary Hanlon, has told Mr Dorn that Congressman King will be an advocate for Mr Murphy with the Washington authorities.

In the meantime, the original Limerick Leader report has been shown to Jimmy Murphy's 43 classmates, who are now writing to their US senators, seeking to have their colleague returned to them. Other classes are expected to follow suit.

"There had been rumours around campus, but now we know the real story," said Mr Dorn.

"Jimmy is a very good and very popular student, and he wants to pursue a career in law enforcement, and I have every hope that he will become an officer in Omaha," Mr Dorn told the Limerick Leader this week.

When I finished reading that I thought, well it'll take some time, but it'll come good in the end. Then I read this from Irish Examiner.

At his family home in Newcastle West, he said: "I am going to give it two more weeks and unless I get results I will go on hunger strike outside Government buildings in Dublin and chain myself to the gates.

"I will go back in a coffin if I can't get back to be with my wife. My wife is finding it very tough on her own having to pay a mortgage on one income. My livelihood is also at risk. Even though I put up stamps over the years I worked here before going to the US, the Department of Social Welfare say I cannot draw any allowance."

His wife, who is three months' pregnant, was recently rushed to hospital and Mr Murphy said this was caused by the strain of their separation.

"It is inhuman what they are doing to us. I am still living out of a suit case with my family in Newcastle West. I cannot live like a married man with a child on the way. I am being treated like a tin can or a piece of rubbish on the side of the street."

I know it's hard, but you've got to keep your head. This kind of threat sounds almost deranged. The United States government is not going to be threatened into granting Jimmy a visa to enter the country and they'll be a lot less likely to ever do so if they think he's a lunatic. Someone needs to advise Jimmy to put a sock in it.