Thread: VA: Gilbert focusing on illegal immigration

Gilbert focusing on illegal immigration
January 19, 2011

By Preston Knight

WOODSTOCK -- Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, has introduced three bills to the Virginia General Assembly to address illegal immigration, including one designed to determine the cost taxpayers incur for every illegal pupil in public schools.

The trio of bills are among 16 pieces of legislation that the House of Delegates' Republican majority caucus announced on Tuesday regarding immigration, according to a news release from Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William. They range from law enforcement to gangs and public assistance.

Gilbert's House Bill 1775 would require someone registering a child in a public school to provide documentation of the immigration status or citizenship of that child. He said it's not meant to keep a list of illegal pupils, nor deter people from enrolling them, but instead to find a cost associated with educating them.

"It would have the benefit of giving us a pretty good snapshot how much money is being spent on children who are not here legally," Gilbert said. "[It's] helping fix our broken immigration system."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled nearly 30 years ago that states are required to educate children without regard to their legal status, he said. The bill, which would not cost much, may have detractors who fear a "chilling effect" on enrollment, Gilbert said, but his intention is to only obtain a cost figure to something he thinks is already higher than it should be.

"The cost of educating kids illegally far and away exceeds the minimal cost to get a head count," he said.

The other bills Gilbert has proposed are House Bill 1781, which upgrades to a Class 5 felony anyone who actively participates in or is a member of a criminal street gang and takes part in a criminal act, and House Bill 1777, which increases the manufacturing of a fake birth certificate from a misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony.

"[It being] only a misdemeanor is unconscionable," said Gilbert, who is an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Frederick County. "It clearly falls in the realm of things we want to deter and punish as a felony."

According to Lingamfelter's release, other proposed immigration bills include:

• Having the secretary of public safety create an information exchange program with states that border Mexico and Canada to share information related to international gangs and terrorist organizations.

• Requiring local departments of social services to verify legal presence of an applicant for public assistance before initiating benefits.

• Mandating the Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel any license, permit or special identification card of someone who is not a citizen or in the country legally.


www.nvdaily.com

see Summaries of Virginia proposed bills here

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-225034.html

Very interesting news article...Way to go Virginia!

This is a good way to go. Make sure you have plenty of proof so that when it comes to pulling illegals out of schools, having local law enforcement check for documentation when stopping a person on the street, and working with ICE to sweep gathering points of illegals, the state has solid grounds to make sure that the laws are enacted and enforced to the max to root out illegals who are leaching off the states economy.

Great advice Bill. If we are going to clean up this Country we must do it in all legal ways possible. I am ready to assist ICE and anyone else seeking assistance. Just advise me and I am ready to go!!!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6011--0-0.html