Thread: VA: Task force dives into study of immigration

Task force dives into study of immigration

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 12:08 AM

By PAMELA STALLSMITH
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER



Many questions, few answers.

A group studying the impact of illegal immigration on Virginia's criminal justice system hopes to change that by the end of the year. A task force of the Virginia State Crime Commission held its first meeting yesterday in a probe of the complex subject and hopes to make recommendations for legislation by its fifth and last scheduled meeting in October.

The number of immigration-related bills introduced in the General Assembly grows with each session, reaching an all-time high of 49 this year. Of those, only three were signed into law.

"There's a complete failure at the federal level to enforce the immigration laws," said state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, the task force's co-chairman and chairman of the crime commission.

"Every year there's an effort to try to get Virginia to try to step into the void and try to enforce the federal law. . . . What we need is to have a candid study, as exhaustive as it possibly can be, on the issues of illegal immigration as it impacts the criminal justice system."

The group met for five hours yesterday, hearing an overview of federal immigration law and from representatives of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. Over the next several months, the task force hopes to gather available statistics about illegal immigrants in Virginia and their numbers in state prisons and jails, among other facts.

"It's never a black-and-white situation -- there are a lot of layers to immigration law," said Jorge E. Artieda, associate legal adviser with ICE. "It's very complicated."

http://www.timesdispatch.com/cva/ric/ne ... -0096.html

"It's never a black-and-white situation -- there are a lot of layers to immigration law," said Jorge E. Artieda, associate legal adviser with ICE. "It's very complicated."


Oh what tangled webs they weave

May 19, 2007
Task force looking into illegal aliens affecting the state's criminal justice system

A task force is looking into how illegal aliens affect Virginia's criminal justice system.

Immigration and Customs enforcement also known as ICE officers addressed the group this week. Back in January, the attorney general asked Governor Kaine to allow state police to be trained as immigration agents.

Kaine denied the request, saying he didn't want the Commonwealth stuck paying a federal tab. Task force members had ICE clarify details of a possible partnership.... some hope the idea will be revisited.

"If the state and localities enter into agreement with ICE and those police officers are trained, those police officers have the same authority as federal agents," said Del. Jack Reid of Henrico County.

Because they're understaffed, ICE agents can't promise they'll always come and pick up illegal aliens that are apprehend by state police. The task force is focusing its study on crimes committed by and against illegal aliens.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S ... 68_19_13_5