Overwhelmed by emotion, an undocumented woman originally from Galway, Ireland broke down in tears, barely able to speak.

She has been living, working and paying taxes in Chicago for over six years, but hasn’t been home to see her family in Ireland for three years.

“It brings a tear to my eye,” she told The Irish Echo.

The woman was one of over 400 Irish immigrants who gathered outside the Klucynski Federal Building in downtown Chicago on an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon on March 10 to rally for fairer immigration reform.

“I’m here today to give my support to the undocumented immigrants,” said Pat Cronin. “I know what they’re going through. I came here myself in 1986 and overstayed my visa, but eventually I got a green card.”

Up to 100,000 immigrants and supporters of comprehensive immigration reform took to the streets. The crowd, made up of Irish, Mexican, Polish and Chinese demonstrators, was one of the largest pro-immigration marches in U.S. history, organizers said.

Billy Lawless, a local businessman and chairman of Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform, and the Reverend Michael Leonard, executive director of Chicago Irish Immigrant Support, spoke on behalf of the Irish community.

The rally, organized by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, was attended by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Sean Gibbons, 29, a U.S. citizen of Irish descent came to the rally to support his undocumented Irish friends.

“The main reason I’m here today is that a friend of mine got stopped coming back from Ireland and he has just got married out here,” Gibbons said. “It’s a hard situation.”

Some marchers attended the rally to support friends, relatives and colleagues. But others came out to protest on their own behalf, for the lives and businesses they have built in the city.

Alan, 22, a business owner, moved to Chicago from his home in County Mayo, Ireland, three years ago. He said that if immigration reforms forced him to go back to Ireland he would be “gutted.”

He has been very discouraged that people at home in Ireland have not been more supportive of expatriates in the United States.

“They are saying ‘How come they’re out there, they shouldn’t be out there. Why don’t they just come home.’ But some of those people have never seen anything different than Ireland,” Alan said. “It is easy for them to say all that, but we fell in love with it out here.”