Thread: Virginia Attorney General Urges Action on Illegal Immigrants

Virginia Attorney General Urges Action on Illegal Immigrants
By TYLER WHITLEY / Richmond Times-Dispatch
Sep 6, 2007

Attorney General Bob McDonnell urged President Bush and the Democratically controlled Congress yesterday to take immediate action against illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

If Congress can't act during the current session, Bush should call a special session "to focus on this issue of extraordinary national importance," the Republican attorney general wrote in a letter to Bush and the leaders of Congress, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"Any crime committed by an illegal immigrant is one too many, and the recent news coverage of murders, DUI-related deaths and fraudulent identification document crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens is resulting in an increasingly concerned citizenry," he wrote.

McDonnell, a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2009, zeroed in on an issue, illegal immigration, that Republicans, fighting for General Assembly seats this fall, raised at a news conference two weeks ago.

In his letter, McDonnell, who described himself as the grandson of an immigrant from Ireland, recommended several steps for the federal government to take:

* Clarify the authority of state and local governments to act in support of federal policies by amending or repealing federal statutes that pre-empt state action.
* Amend federal law to expand the power of state and local authorities to detain temporarily illegal immigrants until they can be deported.
* Improve the deportation process so illegals can be shipped to such countries as Cuba, Iran and Vietnam, where diplomatic relations are not adequate.

McDonnell said the current situation is untenable.

"The borders are not yet secure, the administration and enforcement of the immigration system is cumbersome and ineffective and the public safety problems caused by criminal illegal aliens are growing," he wrote.

He noted that the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported there are more than 632,000 illegal immigrants convicted of deportable offenses who have not been located -- triple the number of three years ago.

He cited a Virginia Crime Commission study showing that 6 percent to 10 percent of those housed in Virginia jails are illegal immigrants.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295911,00.html

We need to email this guy and tell him to keep up the good work.

Edited to say I just sent him an email thanking him.