Thread: Prince William Expected To Vote On Illegal Immigrant Plan

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Prince William Expected To Vote On Illegal Immigrant Plan
Hundreds Show Up At Public Hearing

POSTED: 7:49 pm EDT October 16, 2007
UPDATED: 7:56 pm EDT October 16, 2007


PRINCE WILLIAM, Va. -- The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Tuesday night on a resolution to deny some services to illegal immigrants.

The policy would be one of the toughest in the country and has already been met with protests, boycotts and a federal lawsuit.

Hundreds of people showed up at a public hearing on the matter Tuesday afternoon. About 235 signed up to speak on the issue.

Opponents staged a rally outside the public hearing. Many of those who spoke at the public hearing said they have already faced discrimination because of the proposal.

"I come ask you why you hate every Spanish peoples," said Delmy Barrientos.

"Just be strong enough to stand up to the small, extremist groups that are promoting all of this hate," said opponent Nancy Lyall. "Just be strong enough to stand up against them and say, 'No. We're not going to fund it.'"

Supporters said illegal immigrants are ruining their quality of life and jeopardizing their safety.

"Don't ever forget 9/11," said Janet Rosenthal. "And who is responsible for 9/11? Illegals."

"If you vote down these provisions for enforcement, you will be both complicit and duplicitous in the promoting of lawlessness and the continued theft of our county's resources and the degradation of our quality of life," said James Rippe.

The board has already approved a policy under which police must check the residency of people who are arrested or pulled over if it is suspected they are illegal immigrants. Tuesday night, they are expected to vote on funding of about $14 million over five years.

The board also is expected to decide whether to deny some county services to illegal immigrants. News4's Julie Carey reported that services like health and schooling can not be denied.

"There are significant amount of services that at the end of the day that will be denied to illegal immigrants," said Board Chairman Corey Stewart.

The resolution has been revised, and the final version has not been made public.

http://www.nbc4.com/news/14355672/detail.html

If they don't deny health and schooling services to illegals, what's left (of any substance) to deny them?

http://www.washingtonpost.com


Public Turnout Pushes Pr. William Vote on Immigration Crackdown Into NightBy Nick Miroff and Kristen Mack
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 16, 2007; 9:49 PM

A vote to enact Prince William County's nationally watched plan to crack down on illegal immigrants was delayed into the night yesterday, after a huge public turnout produced a marathon session of emotional public testimony.

More than 1,200 people packed the county government complex in Woodbridge and the streets outside yesterday afternoon, creating a charged -- and at times tense -- atmosphere. As the meeting began, supporters and opponents of the measures scuffled in the street before police pulled the two sides apart, threatening to make arrests.
The confrontation underscored the intense debate playing out in communities across the country, where an increasing number of jurisdictions have been taking steps to clamp down on illegal immigrants after Congress failed to pass immigration overhaul measures.

"This is America!" yelled activists from the anti-illegal immigrant group Help Save Manassas as they were restrained by police.

Opposite them, several hundred residents, mostly Hispanic, responded with a deafening chant of "¿S¿, se puede!" (Yes, we can!).

The tension in Woodbridge came as officials in Fairfax County and Richmond also turned their attention to the issue yesterday. Fairfax's county executive said he would begin studying which services might be restricted to illegal immigrants, and in Richmond, officials rejected a proposal to build a 1,000-bed detention center where illegal immigrants could be temporarily held for deportation. Instead, the Virginia Crime Commission's immigration task force approved a proposal to give more money to local governments to house arrested illegal immigrants and to expand or build jails.

But the real drama was in Prince William, and it wasn't confined to the street. More than 350 people signed up to address the supervisors during a public comment period. When the board's chairman, Corey A. Stewart (R), who has made illegal immigration the signature issue of his reelection campaign, moved at the outset to reduce the time allotted for each speaker from three minutes to one, Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Dumfries) sought to block the measure.

Caddigan and other board members have criticized Stewart for using $30,000 in public money to send postcards to every Prince William household notifying residents of the board's vote. Stewart should not invite residents to the meeting and then restrict their right to speak, Caddigan argued.

The motion was put to a vote, and five of the board's remaining seven members, including three other Republicans, agreed with Caddigan. Seven hours later, supervisors were still hearing public testimony and had yet to begin a discussion of the proposal to fully implement the anti-illegal immigrant policies. At one point late into the session, Supervisor Hilda Barg (D-Woodbridge) said Stewart had left the board chambers to conduct television interviews, and asked to delay proceedings until he returned.

The measures considered yesterday would authorize police to conduct residency checks on anyone arrested in the county and improve cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They also would deny certain county services to illegal immigrants. But with a projected 14 percent decline in property values, several Prince William supervisors have expressed concern about funding the measures, opting two weeks ago to delay voting until now.

With the Nov. 6 election approaching and all of the supervisors up for reelection, the county's illegal immigration policies have become a dominant campaign issue. Stewart had pushed hard for the county's new measures to be approved before Election Day, angering fellow board members.

But for hours yesterday afternoon and deep into the night, the podium belonged to residents, highlighting how visceral the issue has become.

Children of immigrants, standing on stools, asked board members not to hurt their parents.

Others pointed out that illegal immigrants are breaking the law. "Where do you get off demanding services, rights and mandatory citizenship?," said Manassas resident Robert Stephens, addressing to the large crowd of Hispanic residents present during. "Who invited you? You cry for your rights? You have none."

County officials knew the crowd would be large, but said they weren't expecting more than 1,000 people. Office doors, which normally remain open, were locked and required codes to get in. People spilled out of the board's chambers and the building's atrium, which together hold several hundred people.

One woman showed up in costume, dressed like the Statue of Liberty. Another woman said she had time to go home and prepare dinner for her family before coming back to address the board.

A roughly equal number of opponents and supporters of the policies signed up to speak, but not everyone chose to address the supervisors directly. Some 1,000 opponents of the measures rallied outside, many in green T-shirts asking the board rescind the resolution, while a much smaller group wearing the red stickers of Help Save Manassas rallied nearby.

There were even more people in attendance yesterday than the board's July 10 meeting, when supervisors unanimously approved the plans to deny some public services to illegal immigrants and increase immigration enforcement by local police. Yesterday's vote would be more specific, naming the county services that would be denied and allocating the money to carry it out. The July vote in Prince William prompted similar proposals in Loudoun and Culpeper counties, and elsewhere in the region.

But the Prince William measures would be the most extensive. Police officials emphasize that they will not be conducting immigration sweeps or setting up checkpoints, as some have feared, and that it will take months to put the measures into practice. More than 500 county police officers will need to be trained in the nuances of federal immigration law. Yesterday's vote was also scheduled to address the creation of a seven-officer Criminal Alien Unit that will work directly with federal immigration agents.

The county's plan to deny services has also evolved since it was first proposed. Services such as access to schools and emergency medical care are federally protected, while illegal immigrants are already ineligible for benefits such as Medicare and food stamps.

Instead, Prince William has pinpointed a more limited set of services and benefits, including substance abuse counseling, homeless assistance, in-home care and other county programs for the elderly. County officials said they are not sure how many illegal immigrants are already taking advantage of these programs, or how much money would be saved by curbing them.

Legal experts say the county policies are untested in court. A group of 22 plaintiffs have already filed a lawsuit against the county and its top officials in federal court, seeking to block the measures, claiming they violate equal protection laws and that immigration enforcement is a federal concern.

In Richmond Tuesday, state officials rejected the controversial proposal to build the detention center, where illegal immigrants arrested for certain crimes could be held until federal officials deport them.

"I don't think there is support in the General Assembly or with the public for building a stand-alone facility," State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), chairman of the task force, said.

The detention center would have been the country's first state-run facility built to hold only illegal immigrants accused of crimes. Currently, illegal immigrants who are arrested are held in local jails, federal facilities and private prisons. Under the new proposal, localities will be allowed to keep all of the money the federal government sends them to house federal inmates, including illegal immigrants, instead of giving a share to the state. Sheriffs also would start to receive 50 percent -- instead of 25 percent -- of the cost of expanding or building new jails.

The 22-member task force killed the detention proposal during a more than four-hour meeting yesterday. It approved 18 other proposals that will be considered by the full Crime Commission next month.

Staff writer Anita Kumar contributed to this report from Richmond.