Thread: VA: Culpeper Affirms Status of English

Culpeper Affirms Status of English
County Targets Illegal Immigrants

By Nick Miroff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 9, 2007; B01



Culpeper County does not have foreign-language interpreters, and it does not print its documents in Spanish, but let there be no doubt: English is now its official language.

That's the message lawmakers wanted to send this week, voting unanimously on resolutions to affirm the county's English-speaking primacy and to join a growing coalition of Virginia jurisdictions asking the General Assembly for help in cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Culpeper is the latest county in the state to enact measures targeting illegal immigrants, after Congress failed to enact immigration legislation. Although far less ambitious than the measures Prince William and Loudoun counties passed last month, Culpeper's actions would send an important cultural message, county officials said.

"We just wanted to clarify that this was an English-speaking county and make sure we reflected that," said Supervisor Bill Chase (I-Stevensburg). "But I don't think this really changes anything."

In recent years, residents have complained about Spanish-language signs of local businesses, according to Chase, who thinks Culpeper's new immigrant population isn't as committed to learning English as previous generations were.

"I think we all came from foreign countries and turned into English-speaking Americans," he said. "But I don't feel a willingness of this particular group to do that. I don't see the willingness to blend into society."

That charge often has been leveled lately in places with growing Latino immigrant populations. Experts say language adaptation and assimilation have never been a forte of first-generation immigrants. Although some scholars say some Latinos, and Mexicans in particular, are assimilating more slowly compared with previous immigrant groups, their children are commonly bilingual. Often, by the third generation, only English is spoken.

But Culpeper, like other immigrant destinations in Virginia, is racked with growing pains. In the past decade, the once-rural county has morphed into a bedroom community for Northern Virginia commuters willing to endure long drives in exchange for affordable homes and a small-town feel.

Much of the construction in the county's new subdivisions was done by Hispanic laborers. Many of them gather each morning to solicit jobs at such places as the Culpeper Town Plaza, a scene familiar to residents of Herndon, Woodbridge, Gaithersburg and other localities in the region where day-labor pickup sites have become flash points.

"It's been a tremendous eyesore for our community," said F. Steve Jenkins (I), a Culpeper Town Council member and former county supervisor who has led the campaign against the area's illegal immigrants. Jenkins, a Culpeper native and high school football coach, said he and other residents have watched the area's construction bonanza turn into a "residential nightmare."

"We've turned into a suburb of Northern Virginia," he said. "The influx of illegal aliens has steadfastly grown because of the building boom that's taken place."

Over the past year, Jenkins has pushed several times for the town to move against illegal immigrants, but fellow council members have rebuffed his proposals to tighten rules about residential crowding and to train local police to work with federal immigration officers under a program being implemented in Prince William and other Northern Virginia jurisdictions. Jenkins then turned to lobbying county supervisors, speaking on illegal immigration at board meetings.

"It's all Jenkins. There's never a moment when he isn't on the attack," said MartÃ*n Bernal, owner of the El Nopal market in the town of Culpeper. "If a Hispanic person did something to hurt him, maybe the community should ask for his forgiveness. But I don't know what he has against Hispanics."

Bernal, who came to Culpeper from Mexico in 1988 and calls himself a "pioneer" of the town's Latino community, said he thought the English-language resolution might do some good.

"I think it'll help force us to learn more English, and if we learn the language, we'll have better job opportunities," he said. "No one's taking it as an offense."

Far more worrisome, Bernal said, was the threat that the town or county would try to enact policies such as those approved in Prince William that seek to deny public services to illegal immigrants and allow local police to check residency status.

As in Prince William and Loudoun, officials in Culpeper say illegal immigrants are straining hospitals and schools; 10 percent of the county's 7,000 students are Hispanic. County Administrator Frank Bossio said the resolutions were an important step toward pinpointing the financial burden of illegal immigration on county taxpayers.

"The din is growing steadily," he said. "Some people just have fears, whether based on perception or reality, I don't know. But if you let that grow out of control, then fear will drive the problem instead of fact."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Quote-"I think we all came from foreign countries and turned into English-speaking Americans,"he said."But I don't feel a willingness of this particular group to do that.I don't see the willingness to blend into society."

A tick doesn't want to become part of the dog.



Head 'em up,move 'em out Rawhide!

Originally Posted by Rawhide

A tick doesn't want to become part of the dog.

Excellent point!

"I think it'll help force us to learn more English, and if we learn the language, we'll have better job opportunities," he said. "No one's taking it as an offense."

This guy appearently gets it, legal immigrants get it, so whay can't the illegals figure this out? Oh wait, they don't speak English!