Thread: Virginia legislature to target illegals

Virginia legislature to target illegals


January 11, 2008


By Seth McLaughlin - RICHMOND — More than 100 bills proposing reforms in the way that the state handles illegal aliens have been introduced in the first two days of the General Assembly — ending any speculation on how important the issue is to Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

"Without question, it is a big issue," said House Speaker William J. Howell, Stafford Republican.

The bills range from the denial of bail for violent criminal illegal aliens to directing the Virginia State Police to create a special unit of at least 100 trained officers tasked with investigating and enforcing immigration violations.

Gov. Tim Kaine, in his State of the Commonwealth Address Wednesday night, dedicated 14 of 131 paragraphs to the subject.

"We are a nation of laws," said Mr. Kaine, a Democrat. "It is our obligation to enforce those laws, and we should continually assess the consequences of illegal immigration."

Some Republicans called Mr. Kaine's comments "fluff," noting that he mentioned the benefits of immigration and existing Virginia laws against illegal aliens, including one in 2005 that barred illegal aliens from receiving non-emergency public benefits.

However, in his State of the Commonwealth address last year from Jamestown, Mr. Kaine never mentioned the issue.

"It is evidence of the fact, in the last year, the issue has become of heightened interest in the public consciousness; there is no question about that," said Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, lobbyist for a coalition of Hispanic organizations that represents the interests of immigrants.

"There are already twice as many bills, and we are not done by a long shot," she said, adding that by her count 53 bills regarding illegal aliens were filed last session.

The issue, which has been prominent in Northern Virginia, influenced some of the most competitive races in the November legislative elections that resulted in Democrats winning control of the Senate.

The new Democratic leadership in the Senate said during a press conference yesterday that immigration would be one of the party's top six priorities for the 60-day-legislative session.

The three lawmakers who addressed the issue at the press conference were from Fairfax or Prince William counties.

"We need immigration solutions that make sense and help communities better deal with the immigration issue," said Sen. George L. Barker, Fairfax Democrat who defeated an incumbent in a race largely defined by the issue of illegal aliens. "Helping to prevent overcrowding and having employers check their employees' citizenship status electronically will help."

Sen. Charles J. Colgan, Prince William Democrat and Finance Committee Chairman, repeated his desire to require Virginia contractors to check the legal working status of their employees.

Mr. Colgan said he wants state contractors to use a system similar to the federal government's E-Verify.

A Virginia State Crime Commission task force on illegal aliens has forwarded to the General Assembly more than a dozen reform proposals, including a presumption against bail for criminal illegal aliens and a plan to enter into local-state-federal agreements to build jail space for illegal aliens awaiting deportation.

Still, some Republicans were skeptical that Democrats will be serious about passing bills aimed at cracking down on illegal aliens.

"I hope they want to take the issue seriously, and we will see this year," said Delegate Jackson H. Miller, Prince William Republican. "Last year, they were not serious about it."


www.washingtontimes.com

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-2857--0-0.html

Talk is cheap when it comes to doing something about the illegals in this state and country. Too many guest workers hurt our economy too, because they contribute less dollars in our earn and spend cycle that fuels our economy, compared to U.S. citizens. Many of the illegals are paid under the table, so no taxes are collected and that hurts our Social Security and Medicaid programs, for starters.

Some facts and figures that make me wonder whose side our reps are on.

The Virginia Employment Commission alone paid out $326,949,485.00 in regular UI benefits to 260,630 individuals during calendar year 2006. Virginians received an average of 12.6 weeks of benefits, averaging $252.69 per week.

In November 2007 alone, there were over 122,000 unemployed just in Virginia, there was almost 7 million in the U.S., keep in mind that these figures DO NOT include those that ran out of benefits.

So, can any of our reps explain why we are not putting every effort into getting citizens employed, versus allowing illegals and too many guest workers to destroy our country and economy?

We also pay more for our health care than we would if our hospitals didn't have to pass those costs to the insured and uninsured citizens and insurance companies, we walk out with a bill, illegals' don't!

Can any of our reps explain why we should allow the illegals here to come in the backdoor ahead of those legally waiting their turn outside of our country?

If you are interested in doing something about this, feel free to contact me.


Mary Steele
Yorktown, VA

866-887-6629 if you are outside of the Virginia Peninsula and Southside.

887-6629 local

VA

http://savetheolddominion.org/

Thanks for the info. I just sent out my letter which is included.

Also check out www.numbersusa.org, they are great with the same approach, but on the federal level, excellent work when it came to helping us kill the amnesty bill in June 2007!

Senator Jill Holtzman-Vogel's SB 433 is pending before the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, and I urge you to support this critical legislation that directs the Governor to enroll Virginia's state police and localities in the federal Section 287(g) Program. A handful of Virginia localities have recently enrolled in this program and identified and processed for deportation hundreds of criminal illegal aliens this year who have committed serious felonies and who would have otherwise been released back onto our streets after serving their sentences if this program were not in place. There is no reason why someone who is not legally authorized to be in Virginia, and who commits a serious felony such as rape, criminal gang participation, grand larceny or crimes against children for example should be permitted to remain in Virginia after they have served their sentence.

Local funding may be an undertaking, but what will we pay if we do nothing? The long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term costs.

Let's add an amendment to check all databases across the board, for everybody. This step will eliminate the racial profiling accusations and prevent all criminals from running state to state, or country to country to avoid capture.

I'm tired of the excuses for not doing everything possible to make our country safe, and we must use every tool available to accomplish that.

Our next move would be to crack down on employers and those that harbor illegals. It is a fact that these measures work. We also must make it a felony to be here illegally, with a mandatory 10 year jail sentence. Let's honor the ones that came here legally and those legally waiting their turn outside of our country!

This legislation is a step in the right direction, please do whatever you can to help, illegals and too many guest workers are doing more harm than good when it comes to crime, employment, health costs and our economy.

"We are a nation of laws," said Mr. Kaine, a Democrat. "It is our obligation to enforce those laws, and we should continually assess the consequences of illegal immigration."

Bravo! Mr. Kaine has finally seen the light!