Thread: Virginia's bid for help with illegals nixed

Virginia's bid for help with illegals nixed
By Natasha Altamirano
July 30, 2007
Federal immigration officials say they lack the resources to fulfill a proposed mandate by Virginia lawmakers to train staff at every state jail to start deportation procedures for illegal aliens.



"I cannot make that commitment to Virginia," said William F. Reid, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Washington field office.



Mr. Reid told members of the State Crime Commission's illegal-immigration task force at a meeting Tuesday in Richmond that the state's request would be evaluated against nationwide requests.



Twenty-two law-enforcement agencies nationwide have entered formal agreements with ICE to complete the training, authorized under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, agency spokesman Richard Rocha said.



More than 65 other agencies have requested 287(g) training, he said.



ICE requested $26.4 million for 287(g) training from Congress for its fiscal 2008 budget, which would fund the training of 250 state and local law-enforcement officers, 350 jail beds and enforcement-related technology.



On Thursday, the Senate passed its version of the homeland security spending bill for 2008, which includes an additional $5.4 million for the 287(g) program. The bill also allows money left over from $3 billion in emergency border- and interior-enforcement funding to go to the training program.



The bill now must be squared with the House version.

Virginia Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, co-chairman of the task force, proposed the mandate to create a uniform, statewide policy on illegal aliens — starting with Virginia's 73 local and regional jails.


"I assume that if the state of Virginia drafts legislation to require sheriffs to do this across the commonwealth, that you would be willing to provide the training across the commonwealth," Mr. Stolle, Virginia Beach Republican, said Tuesday at the meeting.


Requests for training are evaluated by ICE agents on a case-by-case basis at field offices near the requesting agencies, Mr. Rocha said.


"Our local agents and officers will meet with that agency to talk about what challenges they are facing," he said, adding that ICE offers other enforcement programs that may better suit a particular community. "If someone asks us for assistance, we're going to work with those local law-enforcement agencies to determine how we can best tackle the problems in their specific area."


State Sen. Jay O'Brien, Fairfax Republican, last year introduced legislation encouraging localities to participate in 287(g) training but did not make it mandatory statewide. The bill was rejected, like many of the roughly 50 immigration-related ones introduced in the General Assembly last year.


Not all localities experience the same problems with illegal aliens, Mr. O'Brien said, adding that he would support allocating state funds for voluntary immigration-enforcement programs.


"It would be a waste of resources ... to mandate it for those local governments that don't need it," he said. "If a local government wants to participate in a program, established by the state, because of a significant impact of illegal immigration in their locality, the state government should assist them in this issue."


Delegate Robert G. Marshall, Prince William Republican, declined to say whether he would support using state funds for immigration enforcement, but said the federal government should pay to enforce its own laws.


"If we're doing the job of the federal government, they should be humiliated that they wouldn't offer to pay for all of this," said Mr. Marshall, who sits on a separate commission studying the effects of illegal aliens on the state. "I'm not going to start putting the state's cards on the table until the federal government is going to openly say, 'We don't have the interest. The state of Virginia can [forget] their efforts to enforce immigration law.' "


There are an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the United States. More than 250,000 of them lived in Virginia in 2005, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.


John W. Jones, executive director of the Virginia Sheriff's Association, supports sheriffs playing a larger role in immigration enforcement.


"It makes sense that if a person is in this country illegally and they commit a crime, the government has a responsibility to do something about it," said Mr. Jones, also a member of the immigration task force. "It's a tremendous task to go out on the street and figure out who's here illegally, but it's not a tremendous task to figure it out once they're in jail."


The sheriff's association, whose members operate the state's 55 local jails, is scheduled to discuss the issue at its annual meeting in September, he said.


"We have to look at the legislation first," Mr. Jones said. "It's going to require some additional funding. It's a moving target right now."


Virginia also has 18 regional jails, which are jointly operated by multiple localities.


The Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center recently formalized its 287(g) agreement with ICE.


Glenn Aylor, president of the Virginia Association of Regional Jails, said the association supports efforts to enhance public safety, but questioned the availability of funding, staffing and other resources necessary for statewide implementation.


"All the jails across the state are understaffed as it is," said Mr. Aylor, superintendent of the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange. "We're working with the bare bones as it is to do what we have to do."


He also said he would support the mandate — which would need approval from the full General Assembly — as long as sheriffs and jail superintendents were given the resources.


"We're never opposed to doing things that increase law enforcement or provide services to our citizens and keep our communities safe," Mr. Aylor said. "We would be in support of it, provided we were given the right number of staff and the right amount of funds to do it correctly."


c Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/2007 ... 00057/1001

The General Assembly should tackle illegal immigration
January 5, 2008

When the General Assembly convenes, legislators should reach across the aisle to tackle Virginia's surging economic, social and political problems springing from illegal immigration. In the run-up to the Nov. 6 election, Republicans blasted their Democratic opponents for our state's woefully inadequate response to this issue. Of course, these aggressive candidates failed to mention that the GOP-controlled Senate provided a killing ground during last year's session for bills to crack down on unlawful residents.

Political opportunism and political correctness impel too many senators and delegates to apply a double standard: Citizens are expected to abide by all statutes; illegal residents can pick and choose the laws they obey.

Now a broad coalition of businesses, including some of the most powerful trade organizations in the state, has launched "Virginia Employers for Sensible Immigration Policy" to protect illegal immigrants and the firms that hire them. It remains to be seen whether lawmakers will truckle to these special interests or stand up for law-abiding residents.




The federal government, including the Congress, has been slow to recognize the grass-roots outcry –– expressed by Anglos, African-Americans and Hispanics –– against the porosity of our border with Mexico, sometimes compared with a sieve blasted by buckshot, as well as the soaring number of foreigners who enter the United States with valid visas only to melt into the population and neglect to return home. In capitulating to special pleaders, Capitol Hill denizens seldom mention that the United States has one of the most liberal immigration laws in the world: We welcomed some one million newcomers last year –– for men and women who play by the rules.

Washington's weak-kneed response to illegal immigration must not prevent the Old Dominion from acting. There are initiatives, some already under way, that should be embraced on a bipartisan basis:

• Make it a crime and/or stiffen penalties for those who engage in alien smuggling, document fraud and gang-related crimes.

• Employ Dillon Rule authority (state control over localities) to ban "sanctuary cities/towns/counties" that roll out the red carpet for illegal immigrants.

• Turn thumbs-down on in-state tuition to unlawful aliens.

• Impound the automobiles of unlicensed drivers until they can show a valid driver's permit and registration document.

• Furnish information to all police and sheriffs' departments about the Law Enforcement Support Center, operated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 24 hours a day, seven days a week (1-866-347-2423), that can supply specific information about properly handling aliens suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity.

• Require all public agencies and their contractors to use the free E-Verify Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security that, in concert with the Social Security Administration, checks the authenticity of Social Security numbers presented by prospective employees.

• Direct all public agencies and their contractors to use the SSNUS system –– a free service to enable employers to match Social Security numbers with W-2 forms and SSA databases.

• Offer incentives to private firms to participate in E-Verify and SSNUS, while ascertaining that all business-license holders take part in this program.

• Require school systems to determine the number of illegal immigrants in classrooms so that if Washington begins to reimburse states for assuming this educational burden, Virginia's officials will have hard data to present. Now jurisdictions like Fairfax Country claim ignorance of the full cost of illegal aliens to their citizens, even as they refuse to ascertain the number of such youngsters in their classrooms.

•Take advantage of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to verify the Social Security numbers of all recipients of state social services, and –– when the head of a household is found to be illegal –– prorate benefits to make certain that he or she does not benefit from breaking the law.

Immigration expert Jessica Vaughn reported that the misappropriation of Social Security numbers by illegal aliens prevented at least 1,000 children in Utah (whose numbers had been stolen) from receiving benefits that they deserved.

Even as U.S. senators and representatives suck their thumbs, we must take decisive action. Otherwise our state will become an ever more attractive and enticing destination for individuals who sneak across the border or overstay their visas –– a situation that fills emergency rooms, overcrowds schools, spurs the formation of more gangs, inflicts greater pressure on our natural resources, exacerbates traffic congestion, inexorably drives up property taxes, and generally degrades the quality of life.

Democrats and Republicans should lay aside partisan concerns for the good of our citizens even if it means standing up to well-funded lobbyists. After all, these legislators swear an oath to the same Constitution that buttresses Americans' commitment to adhering to the rule of law.

Grayson, who teaches at the College of William and Mary, served 27 years as a Democratic member of the House of Delegates. Send e-mail to gwgray@wm.edu.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/ ... 6398.story