Thread: Pro-Illegal Crowd Gets Center in VA

The namby-pamby, panty-waists in Herndon caved in to the pro-illegals...

From the Washington Post...

Herndon Approves Day Labor Center

By Lisa Rein

The Herndon Town Council last night approved the creation of a formal, taxpayer-funded gathering spot for day laborers, saying the chaos in a 7-Eleven parking lot where the workers now gather would only worsen if it did nothing.

The council members, in a 5 to 2 vote that several called the hardest decision in their public service, said they did not want to sanction illegal immigration, the chief concern of opponents of the center. Many of the workers the facility would serve are in the United States illegally from Mexico and Central America.

But council members said they were helpless in the face of what they called a federal failure to police U.S. borders. They said it was their responsibility to bring order to a neighborhood nuisance that had become the town's most divisive issue in recent history.

"Here we sit, expecting this local government to resolve a national immigration problem that is out of our control," council member Harlon Reece said before the vote.

The vote, which came after the fifth hearing on the issue since last month, culminated a tense summer in the small town in northwest Fairfax County, which has been drawn into a national debate on immigration policy, human rights and the role of local governments in international issues.

Project Hope and Harmony, a social services agency, was seeking a permit to build and operate a worker center near the Loudoun County line. The approval means the town will help fund the center with $175,000 in public money.

The dissenters said a vote to spend public money on a laborer site would amount to an endorsement of illegal immigration.

Still, council member Dennis D. Husch, who opposed the measure along with Ann V. Null, denounced the region's representatives in Congress. "Shame on them for their cowardly retreat," Husch said.

In recent weeks, radio talk shows, cable news and Internet blogs fumed that taxpayer money would help immigrants who might be in the country illegally. They advised rounding up such immigrants instead.

Some supporters of the site countered with accusations of racism. But at its core, the debate reflected the struggle in Herndon and other Washington suburbs to integrate a steady flow of new immigrants -- those here legally and illegally.

"This has been a horrendously difficult issue," Mayor Michael O'Reilly said. He said every worker has a constitutional right to "stand on a street corner whether they have documents or not."

As a condition of the permit granted to Project Hope, the nonprofit group must distribute information to contractors telling them that hiring undocumented immigrants is illegal. But Project Hope officials said they will not ask the laborers to disclose their status.

The speakers last night -- the carry-over crowd from a seven-hour hearing Tuesday in Herndon's small council chambers -- were evenly split about the proposed site as they testified before the television cameras that lined the aisles.

Opponents from Herndon and as far away as Colorado called for stepped-up police enforcement, legislative changes and an end to the hiring of undocumented workers. Some homeowners said the day laborers are sinking property values. And they said that by using public money to help the workers, Herndon would be committing a crime by supporting illegal immigration.

Supporters cited the biblical exhortation to love thy neighbor and begged the council not to allow the community to turn its back on its less-fortunate members. They said the problem is not immigration but a neighborhood conflict over noise, littering and safety.

"This controversy will not disappear if we . . . maintain the status quo," said Stef Woods, a lawyer for Just Neighbors, a group that helps immigrants.

Each side blamed the other for the animosity in the town, where foreign-born residents now make up 38 percent of the 22,000 residents.

"I am not a bigot," said Cathy McNary of Herndon, whose family is from the Philippines. "I cleaned bathrooms. . . . But I chose Herndon to raise my family because it was a town known for safety. Now it is known as a place where the day laborers may be."

Undercurrents of race and history resonated on both sides.

One speaker Tuesday night testified that the day laborers represent the "comeuppance of the white man" over the conquest of Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

Several day laborers also stepped forward to plead for an organized place to gather.

"We want a secure site, because our lives are in danger when the contractors leave us on the road," Eric Arauz said through an interpreter. "We are honest workers, not criminals, like they say."

"This has been a horrendously difficult issue," Mayor Michael O'Reilly said. He said every worker has a constitutional right to "stand on a street corner whether they have documents or not."

No,mayor, they do not. They have a right to be rounded up and sent home. Last time I checked the constitution applies to legal citizens of the sovereign United States of America, not the rest of the world, you moron.

One speaker Tuesday night testified that the day laborers represent the "comeuppance of the white man" over the conquest of Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

I wondered how long it would take before we starting getting the old "it's all the white man's fault" routine. This is a bit tiresome, don't you think?

Oh puhleeze. Has any system been set up at this "day labor" site in which they check the laborers for proof that they can not only work in the US legally, but that they are paying taxes? If the gov't is going to shuck out money to give these "laborers" a home then aren't they responsible if say labor fraud is going on?

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

"This has been a horrendously difficult issue," Mayor Michael O'Reilly said. He said every worker has a constitutional right to "stand on a street corner whether they have documents or not."

No,mayor, they do not. They have a right to be rounded up and sent home. Last time I checked the constitution applies to legal citizens of the sovereign United States of America, not the rest of the world, you moron.

[quote:2e9qmslc] One speaker Tuesday night testified that the day laborers represent the "comeuppance of the white man" over the conquest of Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

I wondered how long it would take before we starting getting the old "it's all the white man's fault" routine. This is a bit tiresome, don't you think?[/quote:2e9qmslc]

Oh I have an ideal. I just saw a new billboard. Here next to the house. That is advertising. For 99 dollars to Cancun. That is very cheap so lets just send them on a trip to Cancun.

This mentality is one of the reasons I fled Northern Va. last month! I want to know which laws I can break without fear of prosecution? If you follow these idiots line of thinking, we might as well condone drugs and prostitution and every other illegal act because we aren't going to enforce the law!

Originally Posted by steelerbabe

This mentality is one of the reasons I fled Northern Va. last month! I want to know which laws I can break without fear of prosecution? If you follow these idiots line of thinking, we might as well condone drugs and prostitution and every other illegal act because we aren't going to enforce the law!

yeah i agree with you. Oh lets not forget. Why should we pay taxes also.
It would only be a minor law broken if i didn't pay my taxes. Oh will i be forgiving for that.

Several day laborers also stepped forward to plead for an organized place to gather.

"We want a secure site, because our lives are in danger when the contractors leave us on the road," Eric Arauz said through an interpreter. "We are honest workers, not criminals, like they say."

They must think we are really stupid...

If they are in fact illegal, they are breaking federal law, the "contractors" are breaking federal law and now the town is aiding and abeting them both.

On Lou Dobbs last night the was a guy representing a group who may sue the city if they build it. Does anyone remember what group this was ??

But council members said they were helpless in the face of what they called a federal failure to police U.S. borders. They said it was their responsibility to bring order to a neighborhood nuisance that had become the town's most divisive issue in recent history.

Moving the problem into a building out of view is not going to solve anything. The nuisance will still be around and is only going to get worse. I hope the city takes note of the 5 council members who supported the day labor site and remembers them on the next election. All gutless politicians need to be removed from office.

<<<On Lou Dobbs last night the was a guy representing a group who may sue the city if they build it. Does anyone remember what group this was ??>>>

The name of the group is Judicial Watch

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This really stinks, I moved out of the town of Herndon to get away from these illegals. Now they are moving this site within 2 miles of my home.