Thread: Councilman Seeks Local Solution to Illegal Immigration

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Councilman seeks local solutions to illegal immigration
09/01/2006
Associated Press

A new town council member has floated proposals that some fear are aimed at the community's growing Hispanic population.

Weeks after taking office July 1, Councilman Steve Jenkins proposed limits on the number of families living in single-family homes. Now he's asking what else Culpeper can do about illegal immigration through local laws.

Jenkins is embracing laws adopted in Hazleton, Pa., and a growing number of other cities and towns. In July, the northeastern Pennsylvania city passed ordinances requiring that city documents be printed in English and levying fines for landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, among other measures. Local governments from California to Idaho to Florida are weighing similar steps.

Jenkins is sponsoring a "town hall" meeting Saturday on similar proposals for Culpeper. In protest, members of the Hispanic community will march.
Kent Willis, executive director of Virginia's American Civil Liberties Union, said the Jenkins' initiative and others like it are rooted in "a newly but deeply developed prejudice against people from other countries."

Jenkins contends he is simply responding to concerns in this community of 15,000 between Charlottesville and Washington, D.C.
"Culpeper residents are concerned about illegal immigrants in the community," said Jenkins, who described himself as "a homegrown guy, born and raised in Culpeper."

Culpeper County's Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000, reaching about 2,345 of the county's 42,530 residents, or 5.5 percent.
Resident Martin Bernal, a Culpeper grocery owner, acts as an intermediary for local Latinos and other town residents.
"I don't know what Mr. Steve Jenkins has against Hispanics," Bernal said. "We need to work on this matter."

Jenkins visited Bernal's store this week.
"United, we can all accomplish a lot more," Jenkins said. "We met and they now feel more comfortable that I met with them.
"It's not about anything other than making things legal and fair. It's about illegal immigrants. It's not about legal immigrants."

Jenkins invited Bernal and other Hispanics to attend his town hall meeting. A contingency of local Hispanics will do just that, Bernal said — but after they march.

"We don't want to make it look like a confrontation," Bernal said. "We just want to listen to his ideas. We don't want to interrupt traffic or show something bad — we want to do it right."

Town Councilman Chris Snider said he does not support establishing laws in Culpeper like those in Pennsylvania.

"Once there is any mention of race, nationality, gender or age in crafting ordinances or codes we are violating the Constitution, which was written to protect all people — not just WASPS," he said.

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Culpeper leader's positions protested
Councilman's tough immigration proposals stir Hispanic backlash
BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Friday, September 1, 2006


Steve Jenkins thinks Culpeper has been too accommodating toward illegal immigrants.

So the town councilman is leading a crusade to hold responsible landlords and employers who turn a blind eye. He says he might also push to officially designate English as the town's primary language.

"They are a drain on our resources -- our hospital, our schools, our court system," he said of illegal immigrants yesterday, pointing to Hazelton, Pa., as a recent example as a city that has cracked down on illegal immigra- tion.

Jenkins, who is hosting a meeting on illegal immigration issues from 1 to 3 p.m. tomorrow at Culpeper's library, says his efforts have been welcomed by many of the town's 15,000 residents.

But some people, including Martin Bernal, are concerned. Bernal owns a downtown Culpeper grocery store called El Nopal.

"I don't know what he's got against Hispanics. They are just looking for a better place to live, to work," said Bernal, who has organized a rally for tomorrow.

Bernal originally planned to march to the meeting, but instead will lead a 1:30 p.m. march from the town's train depot to Town Hall. "We don't want to be confrontational," he said.

Jenkins says his efforts target illegal immigrants and that they are not aimed against any particular ethnic, racial or cultural group.

But Bernal says he has spoken with local Latinos who feel threatened. The county's Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000, reaching about 2,345 of the county's 42,530 residents, or 5.5 percent.

Jenkins argues it is unfair for Culpeper taxpayers to bear the costs of providing services for people who do not pay county taxes. "They're not putting money back into the community," he said of undocumented workers.

Bernal says illegal immigrants pay taxes every time they shop or buy gas.

"They are doing work that no one else wants to do," he said, echoing a familiar argument of people who support granting some sort of legal status to undocumented workers.

Jenkins, a former town policeman who assumed his council seat July 1, said he raised the issue of illegal immigration last month before a committee composed of town and county officials. The committee agreed to send a letter to U.S. Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, asking for what Jenkins termed "federal intervention and assistance." Neither the full Culpeper Town Council nor the Culpeper Board of Supervisors has agreed to drafting the letter yet.

Meanwhile, Jenkins wants to address illegal immigration at the local level, including possibly tightening the town's ordinance regulating the number of nonrelated individuals who can live together in a single-family home.

Hazelton, a city of about 31,000, voted in July to fine landlords $1,000 for renting to illegal immigrants, deny business permits to companies that give them jobs and make English the city's official language.

Hispanic activists and the American Civil Liberties Union have sued Hazelton officials, contending that the Constitution gives the federal government exclusive power to regulate immigration and that the city's ordinance is discriminatory.


Contact staff writer Kiran Krishnamurthy at kkrishnamurthy@timesdispatch.com or (540) 371-4792.

"I don't know what Mr. Steve Jenkins has against Hispanics," Bernal said.

I'm sure he, like all of us, has nothing against Hispanics, but we sure have an awful lot AGAINST Illegal Aliens, be they Hispanic or otherwise. It's amazing how they glide right over the "illegal" part and go straight to Hispanic.