Thread: Prince William stiffens crackdown on illegals

Article published Apr 30, 2008
The Washington Times
Prince William stiffens crackdown on illegals
April 30, 2008

By Arlo Wagner - The Prince William Board of County Supervisors last night approved an addition to its 2-month-old crackdown on illegal immigrants, considered one of the most aggressive in country.

With the board's decision, county police can verify the immigration status of anyone they arrest, even for minor infractions such as speeding or jaywalking. Before, they needed probable cause to think the person was in the country illegally.

Supervisor Frank J. Principi, Woodbridge Democrat, said earlier this month that he wanted to repeal the legislation that allowed the crackdown, in part because the board voted to strip $3.1 million earmarked for cameras in police cruisers from the roughly $6.5 million budgeted to enforce the new policies next year. He said the cut would result in a lack of civil rights protections.

The vote followed more than six hours of testimony from about 100 people, who were split on the issue.

"If [people] enter our country illegally, they should be deported, whether they are a criminal or not," said Walter Menz of Woodbridge.

Said Jeanne Mitche of Dumfries: "I have been deeply saddened by what I have seen happen to Prince William County."

Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart led the effort to crack down on illegal immigrants.

"This will increase the number of people who will have their immigration status checked," the Republican said after the vote.

The board approved the resolution in October, denying county-funded public services to illegal immigrants and authorizing police to check the immigration status of a detainee when they have probable cause to think the person violated immigration laws.

A motion by Mr. Principi that would allow police to check the immigration status of a suspect only after the person is put in jail was defeated on a 7-1 vote earlier in the evening.

The enforcement began March 3 after officers were trained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

As of April 1, police said they had had contact with 89 illegal immigrants and that 46 received a ticket but were not arrested or detained.

As local governments across the country face tight budgets as the result of the slowing economy, the cost of the police training, housing those arrested and the price of the cameras likely will continue to be an issue.

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 02705/1004

Note how this Washington Times article is titled and framed differently than the liberal Washington Post (I'll trust the Wash. Times):

Pr. William Softens Policy on Immigration Status Checks

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-113688.html

Depending on who wrote the article, either PW County is "stiffening" or "softening" - stiffening because they can ask about immigration status after any arrest, and softening because there has to be an arrest first. The contrast in perspectives for the same law is almost amusing.

To be quite honest, I think the choice to use the word "softening" is going to do a huge disservice to the illegal alien population.

These people are going to assume that they are, once again, in the clear resulting in them not being so cautious and careful. This is going to result in even more arrests, detentions and deportations.

So, if the Post was trying to make their illegals feel better, or believe they are once again gaining ground, I've got news for 'em.....they've probably done more to hurt than help.

Victory, the Rule of Law Resolution is upheld. Thanks for those of you that took the time to write and call the PWC Comissioners. Another good job by ALIPAC activists...making a difference!

Principi’s Plan Backfires
By Greg L | 30 April 2008 | Prince William County | 9 Comments

Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi wanted to ensure that illegal aliens would get a pass from local law enforcement as long as they didn’t commit an offense that they could be arrested for. Not only did his attempt to gut the Rule of Law Resolution get not a single vote from his fellow supervisors, but the Board instead expanded the number of people whose immigration status will now be checked, which actually strengthens the Rule of Law Resolution. Principi’s little stunt failed miserably under a barrage of angry emails, calls, and input from county residents who attended Citizens’ Time this evening, probably closing the debate on this subject for some time to come.

A motion to adopt at 98.7 cent-per-hundred tax rate, which would have included additional police officers and video cameras failed on a tie vote. Frank Principi initially failed to get a second for his motion to gut the Rule of Law Resolution, but eventually got a second for purposes of discussion and ended up having his motion rejected by every one of the other Supervisors. Then the Board passed the remaining non-controversial items on the agenda before returning to the tax rate item, which was pretty clearly deadlocked, prompting the Board to adjourn.

This set off some furious arm-twisting and bargaining, and what the Board eventually came back with was an agreement for a 97 cent tax rate, without cameras and additional officers. A change in the enforcement policy for the Rule of Law Resolution was adopted to require all persons arrested to have their immigration status checked regardless of whether there is probable cause to do so, and leave immigration checks to the discretion of police officers for non-arrestable offenses. The effect here is to increase the scope of immigration checks on those arrested, and pretty much leave the scope unchanged for those who aren’t. This is anything but a weakening of the current policy.

The current policy requires that an officer establish probable cause in order to inquire about a suspect’s immigration status. This requirement limits the scope of those an officer might check, and under this standard there’s no effective requirement for an officer to conduct a check. If an officer says there wasn’t probable cause, no one is going to question what is essentially a constrained judgment call and take him to task if he doesn’t check. If he does want to check immigration status, he can only do so if he can explain how the suspect conformed to the probable cause standard, an effective limit to the officer’s discretion. Saying that a check is “requiredâ€

Local Va. lawmaker wants cameras for immigration enforcement
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 - 06:52 AM

MANASSAS -- The chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman says he now supports spending $3.1 million to install video cameras in police cars to enforce the county's illegal-immigration policy.

Last week, the board tentatively decided against installing video cameras in county police cars, which would slash funding for illegal-immigration enforcement, and was set to vote on the revision as it considered the county's budget last night.

Installing video cameras and monitoring the footage would cost $3.1 million. That accounts for much of the $6.9 million in the coming year's budget for illegal-immigration measures.

Chairman Corey Stewart initially said the budget was too tight to install cameras, but he now says he has been convinced that the cameras are needed for officers' safety.

-- The Associated Press
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx. ... -0190.html

Also, see the previous "Call to Action" thread on the assult on the PWC "Rule of Law Resolution" for lots of good information:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-113345-.html

Thanks for the further information Zeezil. Interesting how different groups are trying to spin this, but it does seem overall that the ROLR was strengthened. We'll have to see how this plays out.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3144--0-0.html