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Group builds agenda on immigration in Culpeper
Minutemen plan effort to stop abuses; more talks scheduled for next month

BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 8, 2006


CULPEPER -- Opponents of illegal immigration are pushing for state legislation that would require schools to tally undocumented students and would penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Sandra Gunn, an anti-illegal immigration activist, discussed the legislative agenda last night at a grass-roots meeting of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps in Culpeper, which lately has become a flashpoint in Virginia in the debate over curbing illegal immigration.

More than 30 people attended the meeting, the first in a series of town hall-style sessions that the Minutemen's state chapter plans to hold in Virginia as part of its effort to fight illegal immigration. Other sessions are tentatively planned in Herndon and Manassas next month.

Gunn, a representative of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, wants to see lawmakers introduce a measure specifying that it is unlawful for illegal immigrants to live in Virginia and would make it harder for them to get loans or rent housing.

"It really gets at a lot of the abuses we find," she told the attentive audience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2524.

Another proposal, she said, would require employers to pay workers compensation premiums, now funded by the state, for illegal immigrants who claim benefits. A third proposal would require schools to seek proof of legal status, while maintaining student confidentiality, and then report figures to the Virginia Department of Education.

"It would go a long way in proving what we already know -- that illegal immigration is negatively affecting our education," she said.

George A. Taplin, a Herndon resident who is director of the state Minutemen chapter, said many people say the issue should be solved by federal officials.

"It's so much easier to throw your hands up and say it's a federal issue. Your mayor has," he said of Culpeper Mayor Pranas A. Rimeikis.

Taplin encouraged residents to take steps to fight illegal immigration. He suggested increasing fines for zoning infractions; requiring government-funded notices and signs be posted only in English; reporting police officers who decline to enforce such ordinances; and turning in businesses and individuals who are breaking the law.

"Telling on your neighbors, very unpopular. But I tell you what: If I suspect my neighbor is doing something illegal, it is very obvious my neighbor has no respect for me," he said.

Taplin said he was invited to Culpeper to discuss illegal immigration, but he would not say who asked him to visit.

Culpeper Town Councilman Steve Jenkins, who has led the push to crack down on illegal immigrants, said he did not invite Taplin. But Jenkins, who attended the meeting, said he thought the Minutemen chapter's decision to start its town hall tour in Culpeper showed the community is serious about addressing the issue.

So far, Jenkins' efforts to hold accountable landlords and businesses that house and hire illegal immigrants have met with some public support but official resistance at the local level.

Jenkins said he hopes the continued attention to the issue eventually will force Congress to act. "More localities are taking up the battle," he said.


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