February 9, 2011

Corey Stewart praises Va. House's passage of immigration bills

By Fredrick Kunkle

Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Wednesday praised the Virginia House of Delegates' passage of a bloc of bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration. The bills were modeled after a policy that Prince William adopted in 2007.

"I am thrilled that the legislators in Richmond have finally realized the seriousness of illegal immigration and have followed Prince William's lead in taking the proper steps to make sure that illegal immigrants caught committing crimes in Virginia are deported," Stewart said in a written statement.

Advocates for immigrants say the bills cast as wide a net as Arizona's controversial law targeting illegal immigration.

The policy in Prince William, though less stringent that initially intended, stirred controversy and fears of a backlash against immigrants when it was first adopted. Stewart said the policy has led local authorities to turn over 3,000 illegal immigrants to the the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and helped reduce the county's crime rate.

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