On Virginia House Panel, a Stampede Against Illegal Immigration

Eager to send the message that Virginia is not for illegal immigrants, lawmakers have loaded the General Assembly’s session with all manner of ways to make the state unappealing to foreigners who don’t have permission to be in the country.

If all the bills pass, illegal immigrants would be banned from enrolling in public colleges, barred from getting a mortgage on a house and liable to be fired if they don’t speak English at work. There’s even a resolution, by Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II, the Fairfax Republican, to ask Congress to initiate a change to the 14th Amendment so that citizenship would no longer be granted automatically to anyone born in the United States. At least one parent would have to be a citizen before a child could be eligible for citizenship at birth.â€