Group responds to boycott

By KEITH WALKER
kwalker@potomacnews.com
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Sate ... 8588&path=

Prince William Chairman Corey A. Stewart, R-at large, said congress and the president aren't doing their jobs when it comes to illegal immigration, so the task is left to the county.

"Congress has failed. The president has failed to attack this problem and as a result, communities such as ours are paying the price in terms of crowded classrooms, crowded jails and hospitals," Stewart said Monday at a press conference held by Help Save Manassas, a local grassroots group opposed to illegal immigration.

"Because the federal government has failed, Prince William County is stepping up to the plate," Stewart said.

Help Save Manassas held the press conference to mark the end of the weeklong boycott that was aimed at Prince William County businesses.

Mexicans Without Borders, an immigrant rights group, organized the boycott to protest a resolution that would deny county services to illegal immigrants.

Dan Arnold, vice president of Help Save Manassas, said people wouldn't be bullied by Mexicans Without Borders.

"We're here to affirm that our residents and their government will not be intimidated or dissuaded from protecting the cities, towns and neighborhoods of Prince William County," Arnold said.

The press conference followed a Sunday demonstration at the plaza where thousands attended to protest the proposed resolution.

Stewart said he believed the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, which unanimously approved the resolution proposal, would pass some form of the resolution that would also require police to ask people they detain to prove their legal residency if police determine there is probable cause to do so.

"We're going to continue hard on this course. We're not backing down," Stewart said.

Supervisor John T. Stirrup, R-Gainesville, proposed the resolution in July and said he was delighted to work "hand-in-hand" with Help Save Manassas to stem the "invasion" of illegal immigrants.

Stirrup called Mexicans Without Borders a lawless group.

"Mexicans Without Borders is a strongly anti-American group that refuses to embrace American culture, refuses to respect American sovereignty and certainly does not respect American laws," he said.

John Steinbach, of Mexicans Without Border, said the claims were "absurd."

The organization teaches English to day laborers and there are waiting lists of people who want to learn, Steinbach said.

He also said many of the people in the organization are U.S. citizens.

"The issue of sovereignty is a red herring," Steinbach said.

Mexicans and Central Americans have been coming to the United States to pick the crops and work on constructions sites for generations, he said.

"They are coming over to do the work that we are asking them to do. They're coming here because there is a demand," Steinbach said. "The only difference now is that they're in Prince William County."