Thread: Culpeper: Immigration debate alive and well

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Immigration debate alive and well
March, town hall meeting scheduled for Saturday
Allison Brophy Champion
Staff Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006


Even Ernesto isn’t going to rain on this parade.

Culpeper’s Hispanic community will march, as scheduled, Saturday afternoon in protest of Town Councilman Steve Jenkins’ initiatives to crack down on illegal immigration.

Likewise, Jenkins will hold a town hall meeting around the same time to receive public comment. His meeting starts at 1 p.m. in the Culpeper County Library.

March organizer Martin Bernal, owner of El Nopal Mexican supermarket, said the “peaceful” demonstration would start at 1:30 p.m. from his store on East Culpeper Street. The march, which will have a police escort, will continue to Culpeper Town Hall, a few blocks away at 400 S. Main St. Bernal encourages all supporters, Hispanic or otherwise, to participate.

Around 2 p.m., local activists and representatives from D.C.-based Mexican Without Borders will host a news conference outside town hall. According to Bernal, several Spanish-speaking newspapers and TV stations from the nation’s capital are interested in covering the event.

The news of Jenkins’ proposals - to enact local laws to penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants and fine landlords for renting them a place to live - has reached beyond the border, he said.

“They already started talking about it in Mexico,” said Bernal, a U.S. citizen who entered from Mexico in 1986 as a migrant worker. “This is international now.”

If Culpeper adopted such laws, he said, they would impact both legal and illegal immigrants.

“Because the police will stop you for no reason to see if you have papers,” Bernal said. “What reason are you stopping me? Because I have black hair and I’m Hispanic? We needed to stop this.”

The economic factor
The perception that all immigrants don’t pay any taxes is simply not true, he said.

“When you work with the employer, he takes taxes from your check,” Bernal said. “Every time you buy something, you pay taxes.”

In fact, illegal residents may be paying more taxes than people think. According to a recent article in Region Focus - the magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond - “65 percent of illegal immigrants are working ‘on the books,’” author Doug Campbell wrote.

In the same article, Jim Johnson - a business professor at the University of North Carolina - argues that immigrants, legal and/or illegal, are actually helping citizens born in America.

“Hispanics did a couple of things,” Johnson told Region Focus. “They were filling newly created jobs and filling vacancies as native-borns moved up in the queue. Does that mean they’re taking jobs that natives don’t want? Yes.”

Locally, the economy could collapse without immigrant labor, contends Culpeper attorney and native son John J. “Butch” Davies III, former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

“If you look at the recent employment statistics, our area has about 3.5 percent unemployment, and without immigrants we would have a very difficult time sustaining our economy,” he wrote said Wednesday.

“The real issue,” Davies continued, “is how to address the issues effectively without polarizing our community. Developing a system that allows for the legal process to work is important. … What is not helpful is inflaming a situation and creating animosity. It brings out the worst in a community.”

Immigration reform
Bernal said he awaits the day when Congress legitimizes the millions of illegal immigrants living in America. Hispanics nationwide will march Sept. 7 in Washington, D.C., to support immigration reform, he added.

“This issue is not small. It is something real big,” Bernal said. “If you want to pull from Mr. Steve Jenkins’ way of thinking - that is only one side and not all Americans are with him. The USA needs the workers - somebody has to do the work.”

Jenkins said he’s holding the town hall meeting so people can air their feelings.

Should Culpeper take on illegal immigration and enact laws against it? That’s what Jenkins wants to know.
He’s also considering forming a task force and hosting more meetings on the topic.

“We are not going to solve it in one day,” he said, “but I need to know if the public is in support of what I am doing. Last time I checked, it was government of the people.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.

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'A touchy subject'
By Allison Brophy Champion
Staff Writer
Saturday, September 2, 2006


Rain or shine, the people will march - and speak. Or both.

Today’s procession from El Nopal Mexican market to Culpeper Town Hall will begin at 1:30 p.m., as planned.

Over at the Culpeper County Library in Southgate Shopping Center, Town Councilman Steve Jenkins will be leading a town hall meeting of his own.

The march, organized by El Nopal owner Martin Bernal, is in protest of Jenkins’ local initiatives to crack down on illegal immigration. Bernal invites everyone to participate in the march, which he promises will be peaceful. It will culminate with a news conference at 2 p.m. outside Town Hall at 400 S. Main St.

Jenkins, whose forum starts at 1 p.m., also wants the public to attend and suggest ways the town can be proactive.

Jenkins, 45, met with Bernal, 41, earlier this week. Both said the meeting was amicable and showed respect for each other’s point of view.

However, Jenkins did make sure Bernal’s march went through the proper channels and had a permit.

“I talked to (Culpeper Police Capt.) Chris Jenkins to ensure that there is no impeding of traffic or obstructing of civilians and that the march is attended to in the proper way,” Jenkins said.

“I wanted to make sure everybody was safe.”
Jenkins said he also contacted Town Manager Brannon Godfrey “to see if the proper application was filed and the proper channels were followed.”

“I’m not trying to stop them,” Jenkins explained. “I just want fairness across the board.”

Vice Mayor Billy Yowell said Friday morning that he would not be attending either immigration-based event.

“I’m going to a football game,” he said of the opener at Virginia Tech, his alma mater.

Yowell said the issue of illegal immigration is “a touchy subject” and one that Culpeper can’t solve on its own.

“My main concern is protecting the rights of the citizens in Culpeper,” he said.

Yowell also said: “If somebody is here illegally, they are here illegally - they are breaking the law.”

However, he added, he could not support the “Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act,” adopted by the Hazleton (Pa.) City Council in July.

“I don’t think it’s constitutionally enforceable,” Yowell said of the act, which seeks to penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants, to fine landlords for renting them a place to live and to name English the official language of the city.

Yowell said he hopes the Culpeper community can reach “some type of compromise” on the issue. Sending a letter to the federal government seeking guidance - approved at last week’s meeting of the Town/County Interaction Committee - is a good place to start, Yowell said.

“This is the type of issue that can divide a community,” he said. “I don’t want to see that.”

Saturday’s march has gained attention statewide. The Associated Press picked up the story for inclusion in newspapers today, and Bernal said several media outlets from northern Virginia plan to cover his news conference.

Alicia Fernandez-Bobulinski of Virginia Beach will be here today, along with her husband, Bob. The couple runs the Making A Difference Foundation - a nonprofit educational organization for minority youth.

Fernandez-Bobulinski said any initiative aimed at immigrants stems from “an outdated mentality.”

“We believe this is a human issue, a people issue,” she said. “This is about human rights - people just wanted to be treated fairly.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.