Thread: VA: Spotsylvania may Cut Services to Undocumented

Spotsylvania May Cut Services to Undocumented Residents

Spotsylvania, Va. - Friday August 10, 2007 9:49 am





Add Spotsylvania County to the growing number of Virginia localities trying to crack down on illegal immigration. Chris Yakabouski, chairman of the county's governing board, plans to ask staff next week to examine how to deny services to people here illegally, even though the scope of the problem is unclear.

"Maybe it's not even a problem," Yakabouski said Thursday.

Culpeper County supervisors this week voted to affirm English as the county's official language, and Chesterfield County officials plan to issue a report in the coming weeks on which services can be denied to illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, Spotsylvania officials are considering tightening housing measures because of some residents' complaints about overcrowding in homes and too many cars parked on lawns and narrow streets.

Yakabouski said he wants to get ahead of possible problems before they materialize or, if they exist, before they grow.

"I don't want my county to get to the point where Prince William is now," he said.





Last month, Prince William County supervisors ordered police to check the status of people they believe to be in the country illegally.

County officials also directed staff to find ways to deny public services to illegal immigrants.

Loudoun County supervisors followed suit.

"If they're clamping down up north, we're going to see the effects here," said Yakabouski, a Republican seeking to unseat Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, in November.

Maria Rivas, owner of El Asador, a Latino restaurant in Spotsylvania, said the actions in Prince William worry Hispanics in the region.

"People are scared. They don't go out of their houses, even here," she said through an interpreter.

Spotsylvania's Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000, rising from about 2,536 residents to about 6,195 as of 2005.

The most recent figure represents about 5.3 percent of Spotsylvania's estimated 119,530 residents.




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