Thread: Keeping immigration discussion on table SPOTSYLVANIA WATCHDO

Keeping immigration discussion on table SPOTSYLVANIA WATCHDOG
May 1, 2008 12:15 am

By DAN TELVOCK


Since former Spotsylvania Supervisor Chris Yakabouski left the board in January, his former colleagues have discussed illegal immigration just once.

That's not enough, said the 34-year-old Republican. He wants the issue to remain in the forefront of public policy discussions.

"It is just one of those issues that there's a real lack of leadership, and when I was on the board I decided to show some, and now that I am off the board I am still very interested in it," he said.

On April 10, Spotsylvania supervisors unanimously tabled a resolution to adopt the mission statement of the Coalition on Illegal Immigrants. Supervisor Gary Skinner said that the resolution's language stating "illegal aliens may cause increased crime" is unfair.

His remarks brought a scathing e-mail from Yakabouski the following afternoon, urging him to bring the resolution back for approval.

Skinner said during an interview this week that he is not against what Yakabouski is trying to do.

"I do not believe that we have that problem yet in this county," he said. "I understand Chris is trying to be ready for it because of what the northern counties are doing and he believes they may flow down here. But I just don't want to label people. It's prejudice. This whole country was based on immigration."

Yakabouski's efforts started last year at the height of his unsuccessful state senate race against Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania. He urged his colleagues to join the Coalition of Illegal Immigration, made up of local government officials across the state. The group will recommend policy changes to state legislators.

Yakabouski inquired about the sheriff's office taking federal immigration training, but the sheriff killed the proposal.

He also asked county staff to investigate what public services could be denied to illegal immigrants and to try to determine how many illegals there are here. One of his final moves as a supervisor was pushing through a resolution passed that made English the county's official language.


When Yakabouski was a supervisor last year, he was highlighted in a CNN special about illegal immigration.

He spoke Saturday about illegal immigration at the Virginia Conservative Leadership Conference in Richmond, on a panel with Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart and blogger Greg Letiecq, who created the 2,000-member Help Save Manassas group to force local officials into action.

Both Stewart and Letiecq have received national attention in the fight on illegal immigration, which catapulted Stewart's political career.

"I am part of the effort," said Yakabouski, who relies on both Stewart and Letiecq for advice.

Yakabouski said he admires Letiecq's ability to mobilize people at the grassroots level. At Saturday's event, Letiecq said one must "raise an army" to get the attention of elected leaders, and "Just get rid of all the loony lefties."

Yakabouski distanced himself from some of the rigid remarks Letiecq has made.

"That kind of stuff I just outright reject," Yakabouski said. "My association has nothing to do with his radical statements. The part I have liked are his efforts of being able to mobilize, having thousands of people in Help Save Manassas. That is the part that I have been involved in with Greg--how you organize."

http://fredericksburg.com

"It's prejudice. This whole country was based on immigration."
by Gary Skinner--

How can this man (Skinner), compare the legal immigration of bygone years which numbered in the thousands to illegal immigration of today numbering in the millions? Just watch Roy Beck's presentation to see how dangerous that line of reasoning is.