No mother expects to have to bury their 23year-old son but Anne's pain was compounded by the phone call she had to make to New York telling her two children not to come home to Co Kerry for Trevor's funeral.

Mary and Michael Brennan are just two of the estimated 50,000 Irish living and working illegally in the United States. Over 1,000 of their family and friends flocked to Dublin yesterday to highlight their plight.

Since 11 September 2001, the US government has cracked down on illegal immigrants, leaving America's massive community of Irish illegals in limbo.

They cannot come home for fear of not being allowed back into the country and are forced to live underground in the States, unable to drive or get a social-security number.

Mary and Michael were not able to see Trevor being laid to rest and 39-year-old Mary hasn't set foot in Ireland in five years. Her last visit was to bury another brother, 20-year-old Joe.

Mary is a qualified nurse, but has to work as a nurse's aide because of her status. She moved to New York 17 years ago and has been at the forefront of the massive campaign in the US to have laws introduced to legalise the undocumented Irish.

Her 34-year-old brother Michael is a painter and decorator and has a two-year-old daughter with his American partner. Megan will grow up knowing that her father could be deported at any time, even though he has been in America for nearly 10 years.

Anne Brennan is a mother of 12 and lifting up the phone to tell Mary and Michael not to come home nearly broke her heart.

"It was heartbreaking for me to have to do that after losing Trevor, but it was heartbreaking for them not being able to come home to see him buried. But that is what they have to face and that is why we are here to highlight their situations."

Mary and Michael Brennan held a wake for Trevor in New York without his body. A church service to remember him and his 18-year-old girlfriend Eileen Keane, who also died in the accident, was packed with hundreds of American and Irish friends.

The Brennan family live in Listowel and got the 6am train to Dublin on Saturday with their neighbour Julie Gleeson. Julie's 29-year-old son Paul is a plasterer in Boston.

He has a two-year-old son with his girlfriend Beth and has been forced to miss weddings, christenings and funerals in the six years since he left Ireland.

Julie has described Paul's situation as a "nightmare". "He can't drive over there and can't come back here for visits. He is stuck in a nightmare and we can only hope that all the talking will lead to something. We are trying to do our bit over here."

Anne Brennan and Julie Gleeson have the option of travelling to America to see their children. Sally Whelan isn't so lucky. She has battled cancer and requires a lung transplant. She only got out of hospital during last week.

She is confined to a wheelchair and requires oxygen to help her breathe. She is not well enough to travel to New York to see Sharon, her 26-year-old daughter.

Sharon works in a bar in Manhattan and hasn't been home once since she left for America three years ago and her mum is just too ill to visit.

She lives with her Irish boyfriend David Loughnane and David's sister Jillian brought Sally to the meeting from her home in Co Laois.

Sally finds life hard without her only daughter.

"She is dying to come home and see me but I don't want her to come back if it means she won't be able to get back into America.

"She means everything to us. I am not medically fit enough to travel and am in and out of hospital. My husband can't go either because he minds me."

When the Taoiseach visited New York in February he was photographed with little Luke McKenna, who was only two weeks old at the time. Luke's parents Brian and Caroline are illegal and are campaigners to have the position of Irish illegals regularised.

Caroline's mother Anna Rose Doherty was also in the photograph which appeared in most national newspapers. She was at the meeting to show solidarity with the relatives of the Irish illegals and said Bertie Ahern was "very nice and very genuine".

One of the organisers of the meeting, Kelly Fincham, was delighted with the turnout and said the get-together was "to reassure people in the US that they have not been forgotten over here by ordinary Irish people. It's important that they know that Ireland hasn't turned its back on them. Looking at the crowds today - that is obvious."