For 15 years she's lived and worked and paid taxes in New York city, and fiercely loved her all-American life. But for 15 years, she has also lived in necessary obscurity. The illegal workers have a word for it.

They call it the "shadows".

Now, with the immigration debate raging in the US, Brennan believes her struggle may finally be coming to an end. A new, liberal immigration bill, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, which would ultimately provide legal status for the 11 million undocumented workers in the States, is due before the US Senate next month. If it is passed, there's a chance that all the Irish won't have to come home.

"Jesus Christ, I can't believe it's been so long, " says Brennan, with a shocked gush of breath that suggests it's just now hit her that she has been an illegal immigrant for 15 years. "I never thought it would be this long. I never thought in 1990 I would still be here at 38 years of age, and still not be legal."

She apologises for being sleepy. It's early morning in San Francisco, and Brennan spent the previous day travelling from New York with other members of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.

Lobby group

The lobby group formed in December 2005, and has already gathered 5,000 members. It represents the estimated 40,000 undocumented Irish workers in the States, and has whipped up support from high-profile senators, including John Kerry and Charles Schumer. The ILIR's main objective is to see the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, commonly known as the McCainKennedy Bill, put into law. The group has urged its members to gather in Washington on 8 March for a day of lobbying.

"If McCain-Kennedy goes through, it will all have been worth it, " says Mary Brennan.

"If not, well, I can't even really think about it. No-one here wants to think about that. I suppose I'll have to come home. There'll be an exodus out of here and back to Ireland. There's already been a slimming down of the Irish in my neighbourhood. It's getting too hard to live here now."

The net is certainly closing in. Late last year, the US House of Representatives passed the Sensenbrenner Bill, officially known as the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 H.R 4437. The act, drawn up by House Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, would make it a criminal offence to enter the States illegally, to work illegally in the States or to help or employ any illegal immigrant.

The language of the bill is clear. Undocumented workers are referred to as illegal aliens. The definition of 'alien smuggling' is expanded to include assisting a person to remain in the US when it is known the person is there unlawfully. This means social services organisations, refugee agencies, churches, lawyers and even family members could face federal prison for assisting undocumented immigrants.

Criminals

"Don't even talk to me about Sensenbrenner, " says Brennan. "If that bill goes through we couldn't live here any more.

We'd be categorised as criminals. That would be the end."

She wheezes a little as she says this. Brennan has recently been diagnosed with asthma, but because she can't get health insurance without a social security number, she can't afford the $5,000 test that could help her condition.

As she explains this, her phone credit runs out. You also can't get a billed phone in the States without a social security number. So why does she stay?

"People keep asking me this, " she says, answering the phone in her hotel room, where ILIR members are staying after the 1,000-strong San Francisco meeting on Thursday. "Put simply, I grew up here. I mean, I spent all my adult life here. I love this country, and this is where my life is.

I don't regret my decision to stay. Although ask me again in a couple of months."

Everyone expects to know more by the summer. The senate will have to produce a bill next month. It might be McCain-Kennedy, or it might be a watered-down version of the same. Either way, that bill will be put up against Sensenbrenner's mirror opposite proposal. A conference committee will then be appointed to hammer out the differences and reach a compromise that is acceptable to both the house and the senate. The finished product will be made law.

James Sensenbrenner was unavailable to comment on what aspects of his bill are open to compromise, but Jeff Lungren, spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, spoke on his behalf. "In this post-9/11 era, there are determined terrorists out there, intent upon murdering innocent Americans, and right now we don't have good control of our borders, " said Lungren.

We have a broken system. People are not obeying the laws, and they need to be held accountable. There is a suggestion that illegal workers are doing work that Americans won't do, and that the American economy can't survive without them. I think most people would reject that notion. The White House gave strong support for the [Sensenbrenner] bill and the American public recognise that the current system doesn't work. We want to establish control of our borders and re-establish recognition for our immigration laws."

In the Kennedy-McCain camp, both senators were also unavailable. "The senator is inundated with requests for interviews at the moment, as you might imagine, so lots of people can't get him, " assured a Kennedy aide.

With their bill facing stiff competition within the senate, the mood in the office was cautiously optimistic.

"We have broad bipartisan support for the bill within the senate, and we have support from businesses and labour and immigrant groups, " said a senior official. "All that being said, immigration remains a contentious issue and at this point it's hard to tell how things will go. Senator Kennedy would take the view that the Sensenbrenner bill has some very punitive provisions. It is very unfair, in his eyes."

Kennedy's view has made him the Irish people's champion. For 27-year-old April Drew from Kerry, a Kennedy victory would mean she could finally get on a plane without looking over her shoulder.

Out of place

"I left a good job as a sign language interpreter three years ago so I could come over here and travel and see the country, " she says. "I met my boyfriend out here, and we're very settled. Even the last time I went home, I felt a bit out of place.

But without a social security number, you're just always aware, always worried. I've never relaxed completely, wondering if immigration are just going to walk in off the street and send me home."

While Drew hasn't put down any permanent roots in the States, many other Irish have invested their lives in the American dream. Caroline Doherty from Donegal went to the States in 1996 for a threemonth holiday. One year later, she returned for good.

"It was just home for me, immediately. I fit in, " she says.

"I met my husband, Brian, here. We got married here, because we couldn't chance going home. I haven't been home in six years. I can't. We bought a house here. We knew it was a big chance, but we did it anyway."

Net closes in Caroline's husband, from Monaghan, has a registered plumbing business that employs Americans. The couple's lives are firmly embedded in Yonkers, New York. But Brian's driver's licence has run out, and because of the post-9/11 Patriot Act, he'd need a social security number to renew it.

Caroline's licence is also running out. It's their only form of identification. They can't exactly produce their passports. The net is closing in.

"It's got a lot harder since 2001, " says Caroline. "I mean, when I came here to work, I thought it would be a maximum of five years until I got a green card. Every year we hope it's going to happen. It's like our lives are on pause. . .waiting, and hoping."