Article published Aug 30, 2007
Alien services views to be aired

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... 00064/1004
August 30, 2007

By Natasha Altamirano - Prince William County's Human Rights Commission will hear presentations from groups opposed to a recently adopted resolution limiting services to illegal aliens, despite a warning from the Board of County Supervisors that the commission not critique its policies.

"This thing will have consequences for years to come," commission member Carlos Labiosa said yesterday. "We want to make sure it's done properly. The Board of County Supervisors wants to make sure it's done properly."

A four-member committee of the county's nine-member Human Rights Commission was scheduled to hold its sixth of 10 meetings last night and to hear from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Unity in the Community and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has threatened to sue the county over the July resolution.

Help Save Manassas and the Federation for American Immigration Reform are the only groups invited to speak that support the resolution, which also would toughen local immigration enforcement.

Other presenters include the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Woodbridge Workers Committee, Tenants and Workers United, and Mexicans Without Borders, which has organized a weeklong boycott ending Monday of county businesses not owned by immigrants.

County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane and Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert also have been invited to speak.

Supervisors earlier this month sent a letter to the commission reminding members that "it is not the role of board-appointed citizen advisory groups to critique the board's policies after those policies have been adopted."

The board welcomes the commission's input on how best to implement the resolution and reach out to minority communities to "clearly communicate what the resolution does and does not do," the letter states.

"We need to be reaching out into the community and looking forward to the implementation of the policy, and we're going to make sure there's no racial profiling or other discriminatory behavior," Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart, a Republican, said yesterday.

"We need to reach out to Latino organizations and other groups representing ethnic and racial minorities to make sure that we get their feedback and that they're comfortable with what we do," he said. "If the Human Rights Commission doesn't want to take part in that — that's their decision."

Members of the commission, which is charged with ensuring that county laws are consistent with the county code's anti-discrimination policies, said they established the immigration committee for educational purposes — not to investigate or attempt to overturn the board's decision. The commission does not have the authority to overturn board decisions, and its recommendations are not binding.

"Before we present our recommendations and report, we need to get ourselves educated so we present a valid, serious report," Mr. Labiosa said. "We're not endorsing, we're not in favor, we're not against the resolution. What we're doing is collecting information and listening to groups."

He added that the roster of speakers shouldn't be viewed as a "scorecard" between groups for and against the resolution.

"We're not keeping score — who's in opposition, who's in favor," he said. "What we're doing is listening to groups presenting their point of view. To me, I don't care if they're in favor or against. We are listening to groups, and that is what we're supposed to do."

The committee is scheduled to meet every Wednesday until late September, when it will vote on recommendations that then will go before the full commission before a final report to the board.