Thread: VA: Residents support police checks; statewide poll

Residents support police checks

Northern Virginia leaders meet to hear results of survey

Friday, Jul 27, 2007 - 12:09 AM

By KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
FAIRFAX -- Hours after a federal court struck down a Pennsylvania town's attempts to crack down on illegal immigration, Northern Virginia leaders gathered to review a survey on sentiments toward immigrants in Virginia.

Steven P. Vallas, a George Mason University professor, presented findings of a recent statewide poll of 1,072 residents that shows views on immigration are closely tied to a person's race or ethnicity, income level and political persuasion.

"Those differences are dramatic," Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly said of some of the socioeconomic findings during a meeting of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission.

The survey showed that a majority of Virginians, nearly 75 percent, support police performing immigration checks during routine traffic stops and oppose allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, about 64 percent.

But "there are limits," Vallas told about 15 elected officials at the meeting. He noted, for example, that nearly 80 percent favor a path to legal status for undocumented residents.

The survey showed that nearly half of blacks questioned believe that undocumented workers lower the pay of American workers and that two-thirds of blacks believe undocumented residents take jobs from American workers.

J. Walter Tejada, a member of the Arlington County Board, said he doesn't believe the questions dug deeply enough into people's beliefs. "We're just scratching the surface," he said.

The survey, which has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, also showed that people in Northern Virginia and central Virginia seemed to be more accommodating of immigrants. The survey questions and results can be viewed at cssr.gmu.edu.

Last night's meeting included representatives from some localities where officials have recently taken steps to curb illegal immigration.

This month, the Prince William Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to direct county officials to determine what public services can be denied to undocumented residents, as well as directing police to find a way to check immigration status of people if an officer has probable cause to believe someone is in the country illegally.

More recently, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors last week voted unanimously to direct county officials to look at what public services can be denied.

Illegal immigration is at the forefront in other Virginia localities, too, most notably Chesterfield County and Culpeper. Chesterfield is expected to make public in the coming weeks a report on what actions the county can take concerning public services available to illegal immigrants. And in Culpeper, a town councilman is crusading to crack down on illegal immigrants, the businesses that hire them and the landlords that house them.

This week, a new legislative task force decided to ask Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell for an opinion about what authority Virginia police have to enforce federal criminaland civil-immigration laws.

State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, chairman of the State Crime Commission and co-chairman of that panel's task force on illegal immigration, directed commission staff to prepare a proposal for the task force to consider at its Aug. 28 meeting that would establish a statewide policy to require sheriff's offices to begin the deportation process for illegal immigrants charged with a crime who are in their custody.
Contact Kiran Krishnamurthy at (540) 371-4792 or kkrishnamurthy@timesdispatch.com.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/poli ... -0162.html

But "there are limits," Vallas told about 15 elected officials at the meeting. He noted, for example, that nearly 80 percent favor a path to legal status for undocumented residents.

...if this is literally true, then this outcome is alarming. However, we need to see exactly how the question was worded and in what context it was presented.

UPDATE: Upon review of this question at cssr.gmu.edu , this Vallas guy is distorting the poll results. The actual findings state 41% favor granting permanent residency and 39% favor a temporary worker arrangement. In my mind, a temporary worker arrangement is not a "path to legal status for undocumented residents". Temporary is temporary, not a path to legal status. The findings are listed below:

On the question of a path toward legal residency, only 21% of Virginians think that undocumented immigrants should be simply required to go home. Forty-one percent think that undocumented immigrants should be granted permanent residency, and a similar proportion (39%) favor a temporary worker arrangement. Ethnic divisions emerge here again, with whites and Asians tilting toward a guest worker program, and the largest proportion of Latinos and blacks opting toward permanent residency.