The people in Puerto Rico, among them Treasury official Felipe Antonio Mejía, were so outraged by de Castro's actions that they sent special envoys to Spain on behalf of the Irish immigrant and merchant community on the island. They made their views known to the Spanish Crown to whom they condemned the governor's measures as legally unjustified and economically counter-productive, promoting their strongly held conviction to the Crown that the Irish immigrants had already proven their allegiance to the Spanish colonial government and were invaluable economic and trade partners that expanded Puerto Rico's trade horizons with Spain and the Western Hemisphere colonies. Eventually, the temporarily-banned Irish and their families returned to the island, including the O'Dalys, Dorans, Kiernans, Quinlans, O'Ferran, Butler, Killeleigh and Skerrets, among many others.