Abstract

The annual visit of the Irish prime minister to the US and the official celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day accompanying it in Washington traditionally provide a platform for discussing topics and issues related to the Irish US community and important for the political leaders of Ireland. The subject of this study is the events in Washington in March 2017, their course and particularities in the context of the problem of illegal immigration in the US. The purpose of the study is to establish how, during the meeting of newly elected US President D. Trump and Irish Prime Minister E. Kenny, the contradictions in the Irish-American relations were revealed, including those related to illegal immigration to the US. The Russian historiography does not deal with the issues of illegal Irish immigration to the US while the studies in the area of Irish–US relations are evidently scarce. The results of the analysis presented in the article allow concluding that the conditions of the meeting were largely due to the lack of D. Trump’s support among the political circles of Ireland that led to numerous protest actions against E. Kenny’s trip to the USA. Yet his meeting with D. Trump took place. Over time it became more obvious that D. Trump enjoyed the support of a large part of Irish Americans. Equally, the need for action to resolve the problem of Irish illegal immigrants in the US was also evident. Consequently, the immigration issue became central in E. Kenny’s speeches, and he did not miss this opportunity to address to the US president. However, the call of the Irish prime minister to give illegal Irish immigrants a legitimate status has so far not received a response from D. Trump.