NORFOLK
By the end of the 2007 General Assembly session, the Republican-controlled Senate had successfully quashed attempts to crack down on illegal immigration.
In a compromise, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the legislature created a task force to study illegal immigrants’ effect on employment and education.
Then in the spring, Alfredo Ramos, an illegal immigrant, killed two teenage girls in a crash on Virginia Beach Boulevard, and another state task force, this one to study how illegal immigrants affect the criminal justice system, was created.
With the 2008 General Assembly session opening Wednesday, some advocates seeking a crackdown on illegal immigrants say enough with the studying. It’s time, they say, to pass meaningful laws combating the problem.
“It’s sad to say that it takes a tragedy for them,” meaning the General Assembly, “to correct the problems,” said Brian Kirwin, a Virginia Beach public relations specialist and an affiliate of Save The Old Dominion, a recently formed lobbying group seeking to reduce the number of illegal immigrants.
“I actually have hope we can make progress this year,” Kirwin said.
The effects of illegal immigration hit Hampton Roads hard after the Ramos crash claimed the lives of Alison Kunhardt, 17, and Tessa Tranchant, 16. But the issue was already front and center in Northern Virginia; advocates of change from there descended on the Capitol last session but largely failed in their efforts.
Save The Old Dominion was formed, becoming an umbrella organization tying together regional groups opposed to illegal immigration.
Those advocates are talking even tougher than last year.
“Since the last legislative session, we have seen illegal aliens murder our citizens, molest our children, and cause tremendous property damage that would not have occurred if our state government had only done its job,” Jerry Beckett, president of Help Protect Culpeper, wrote on the Save The Old Dominion Web site.
In one respect, the lobbyists seeking change could face an even tougher year, despite all the headline news, task forces and tough talk: The Senate is now controlled by Democrats, who have historically taken a more liberal position on immigrants. Kaine has already said he believes immigration enforcement should remain at the federal level.
“I’m not holding my breath,” said Del. David B. Albo, R-Springfield, who was co-chairman of the State Crime Commission’s Illegal Immigration Task Force and has introduced a bill that would require citizenship checks at local jails.
He’s also submitted a bill that would mandate fingerprinting of anyone caught driving without a license, as a way to catch illegal immigrants.
“I’m trying to reach common ground with everybody,” Albo said, but added, with frustration: “Can’t we all agree to kick out the people who commit crimes?”
The commission forwarded to the General Assembly 16 proposals that came out of a series of task force meetings last year.
Bills already introduced include denying bail to anyone charged with a crime who can’t prove citizenship, denying public benefits to undocumented individuals, forcing jails to verify citizenship of arrestees, mandatory fingerprinting of anyone caught driving without a license, and seizing vehicles of illegal immigrants stopped for traffic violations.
There also will be a push to hold accountable employers who hire illegal immigrants. Business leaders have already formed a group – Virginia Employers for Sensible Immigration Policy – to lobby against such proposals, and representatives of migrant workers also are prepared to descend on Richmond.
Tim Freilich, legal director of the Immigration Advocacy Program for the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center, said the most “shocking” bill already introduced would require proof of citizenship in order to obtain a driver’s license or state identification card.
“If that bill were to become law, it would devastate Virginia’s economy,” he said, noting that roughly 10 percent of the state work force consists of legal immigrant workers here on temporary visas.
“It’s definitely one of the more ignorant bills that have been introduced,” Freilich said. “I’m hopeful that the General Assembly will focus on cracking down on employers who exploit immigrants in order to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.”
Belinda Dexter of Virginia Beach, who served as a nonvoting citizen representative on the task force, will be heading to Richmond to advocate for tougher immigration enforcement. She is also a member of Help Save Hampton Roads, a new anti-illegal-immigration group affiliated with Save The Old Dominion and a similar organization, Help Save Virginia.
She wants to see a bill passed that would partner local police and sheriff’s departments with federal immigration agents in the enforcement of immigration laws, a step several localities in Northern Virginia have already taken on their own.
“I hope the people up in the General Assembly will truly be patient,” she said, “and dig their heels and research the issues.”
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
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time to fix the problem or prolong it...
I've always said that big business will never fix a problem unless the problem negatively affects their bottom line or they find a way to profit from the "fix". And thats all this immigration hooplah is about. Forget that the illegals are breaking our laws. That is just a sidebar for our leadership. They don't live in our world. High gas prices, new taxes, stagnant wages, and a growing populace of idiots are OUR problem.
Maybe the next president will truly introduce change in Washington? It's like our American leadership has "gone wild"? We fight for oil so the elite few can maintain their chests of gold. Just look how crooked our local headlines have been concerning questionable ethics, race bating council members, kick-backs, and rampant cronyism. Too much to write. Blegh!
Actually business owners do vote...
80% of all jobs are within the small business domain. The SBC states a small business is any business with less the 600 people working for them if i remember correctly, i'm pretty sure someone will do a Google search if i'm wrong. i love the statements that assume "no one will do the job" if but not for the illegals. i also love the statements about the Indians and they "did not protect their boarder". the problem is not that no one will do the job, it is the fact that they can hire on the cheap with illegals. pure and simple. the other statement about the Indians, well i seem to remember a few wars where the Indians in Michigan wiped out other tribes to expand their land. so exactly which tribe is the rightful owner of this land? is it the genocidal tribes, or just the ones that got wiped out before we landed here?
the irony
The irony of this issue is that polls show that voters (or, in other words, legal citizens of the US) overwhelmingly support the enforcement of immigration laws. But those elected officials (that those voters voted for) overwhelmingly support two groups - illegal immigrants and business owners - neither of which vote.
Shows how much they care about us, doesn't it?
Winds of change in the air .... FINALLY!
Its about time that politicians wake up and listen to the music in which they have been ignoring for some time. Any of our politicans would be ignorant to state one more time that illegal immigration is a Federal problem. It is the local towns and cities that pay for most of the benefits and cant seem to do a thing about it because some politicians have no back bone and always give the excuse "It's a Federal problem". Its a Virginia and every state in our country problem so lets empower our cities to take care of themselves. We already have laws in place so just enforce them. Allow I.C.E. to train local police to make sure they can help with the arresting and deportation of illegals and to also make sure discrimination is not going on in the process. We are a proud and welcoming nation and part of what got us here was hard work by law abiding citizens and legal immigrants and not having millions of illegals constantly cheat the system. Please keep on our politicans and make sure they work for us and not the special interests which have prospered for years. Get our lawmakers to enforce all our laws and do not allow them to continue to ignore them when they find it inconviene
Let's contrast, shall we...
I've worked in a few different countries and here is something I find particularly interesting. Filipino's will willingly leave their families to work throughout the world for paltry pay but they work through a legal way. They are hired, paid a wage that is about 10 x's what they would make at home. Compare that to our situation. What's the difference? The difference is those that cross the boarder are coming here to receive the free hand outs. Personally, if they really wanted to support those back at home then start looking for the contracts around the world that will fly cheap labor anywhere. Why pay for their education when my daughter’s bill will be through the roof? Why pay Social Security when they haven’t paid into the system?
Do not expect a Democrat-controlled GA and Congress to do...?
Do what? Ignore the issue like the conservatives did when they controlled both Houses of Congress and both sides of the VA legislature for many years while Bush favored his beloved illegals over Americans for jobs?
Just think about this
Who's gonna pick the harvests, clean buildings or build new homes in this country? Americans? I don't think so...and the "press 2 for spanish" maybe is because this country have many legal immigrants from many latinamerican countries, and some "refugees" from wars in the Americas that U.S. promoted. Now that the times of segregation to african americans are over, a new discrimination is taking place...to spanish speaking people.
Do not believe poiticians
Do you know any law that gives legal status to illegal aliens? Most politicians do not even know immigration process. Those immigration bills will only create big mess. It is a cheap shot for them because immigrants can not vote. If they really want to solve the current problems, they should talk with federal government and find a way to enforce current laws. After all, only federal government can decide who is legal and who is not legal.
They wouldn't be here if...
These folks wouldn't be here if business owners (Republicans?) didn't hire them. Beef up our borders,and enforce existing laws and the problem will take care of itself. Might be interesting also to study how much food prices will increase if we send them all home before we do too much of anything. Interesting, the last election demonized gays, this time it's illegal aliens, wonder who's next?
Sounds Nice But...
It's real nice to say 'lock them up if they're illegal'. Question is where is that money going to come from? We the citizens pay the costs of the prisoners locked up in the local jails. Want to know how much it costs to keep someone locked up? Ask your local sheriff. It isn't cheap. The Federal Government doesn't have to take custody/care of the individual until they've gone through the Federal system. Where's the bed space going to come from? Local jails are already overcrowed. They can't be deported. Only the Feds have that authority. Now I do agree with SEVERELY penalizing those who hire illegals. Making those criminal prosecutions as oppposed to just civil cases will help a lot. Look at the goverernment's prosecution of executives at the Swift company and do that at the state/local level and I think that will fix the problem. Remove the jobs and the illegals will leave. And the easiest way to do that is the prosecute those who hire them.
Bills already introduced
Bills already introduced include denying bail to anyone charged with a crime who can’t prove citizenship, denying public benefits to undocumented individuals, forcing jails to verify citizenship of arrestees, mandatory fingerprinting of anyone caught driving without a license, and seizing vehicles of illegal immigrants stopped for traffic violations.
It's about time!! Get it done!! What part of ILLEGAL doesn't anyone understand? Toss them OUT!
Smoking?
The politicians are too busy with "No Smoking" bans in restaurants to worry about our borders being over run. Oh, and don't forget about Vicks dogs and Brittney Spears troubles, ..............please keep reporting about those. The illegal aliens problem will just go away if we ignore it long enough. Yeah Right!!!!!!!
If they break laws to get here, do you expect them to abide?
Illegal means breaking the law, do you expect them to obey lesser laws? It's time to deport them. They are taking jobs FROM Americans, not taking jobs Americans won't do. Case in point is the crack down by ICE on Tyson Foods a couple of years ago. The day after the raids legal citizens were standing in line for these jobs. Even if you believe the "won't do job" argument, these illegal's are having kids born in the USA and will be competing for your children's place in college and future jobs one day. How do you feel when you have to pay higher medical bills to cover the bills for the illegal's that get it free? How do your children like the overcrowded classrooms because of the illegal's in the class? I like Casey's battlecall, "Deport NOT Support"
All talk no action GA & Feds
Do not expect a Democrat-controlled GA and Congress to do anything about illegals. Many of the proposals will require massive amounts of tax dollars and increasing the city, state and federal payroll. There are already laws punishing employers of illegals however the laws are not being enforced. There are already laws that enable the federal government to deport illegals. Unfortunately no one is enforcing them. Being a state rights kind of guy the Governor's position just adds fuel to the fire. The federal government needs to take seriously protecting the borders and aggressively begin deportation missions.
Ask the Indians
Ask the Indians about what happens when a country fails to protect its borders against invaders. That is what is happening to us with the flood of illegals we have no control over.
Legal immigrants may stay
If you came here *legally* then by all means, contribute to the economy. Deport ALL illegals (why else would they be called *illegal* immigrants?) no ifs ands or buts.
Send them home.
As long as they have thr USA to go to they will not fix the problems in thier own countries.
Deport Not Support
This sounds like a new political move and great words for a sign, banner, and a Tee-Shirt. I agree, "Deport Not Support"... Enough is enough for illegal immigrants. Give us your needy, Hungry and "please bomb our buildings" are days that are over. Rally around our flag boys and keep these people out of our country.
undocumented aliens
The proposed legislation regarding the undocumented aliens goes too far. It is inhumane to deny public benefits to them. Would this include emergency hospital care? Would one be kept in jail, without bail for a dui or perhaps a minor infraction of the traffic laws? Suppose the automobile that the "illegal" was driving belonged to a citizen, would the car still be confiscated? There are too many infractions of the Constitution. Said Constitution does not say whether a person must be a citizen of the country to apply to them the rights listed therein. We are not thinking with our hearts or minds in relation to this issue, but are being panicked into rushing to a judgement that should be carefully thought out in relation to it's ramifications. I firmly believe that those ramifications will come home and be detrimental to us all in the long run.
What's devastating
is the Republicans who blocked attempts in 2007 which forced VA to continue down the same path and allowing illegals to remain untouched. Get rid of the Republicans and we might get this matter resolved. Kick all illegals back where they came from: they are draining our economy.
Republicans are not Conservatives
They are scum sucking liars, like all the rest of the politicians:
"By the end of the 2007 General Assembly session, the Republican-controlled Senate had successfully quashed attempts to crack down on illegal immigration."
When will mindless "conservatives" wake up and admit that both parties are basically socialsts, entirely ignoring the state and federal constitutions. Ron Paul gets laughed at, but he is the ONLY candidate running for president that actually supports the Constitution. That he gets little support tells me that the citizens of this country get what they deserve from both parties. They get unconstitutional government, socialism (entitlement/welfare/redistributionism programs), illegal aliens and all.
Keep it up Amuhrica! Support the Forbes machine!
People are getting too political and less practical.
People are getting too political and less practical. It is particularly sad when China, a communist country, is getting more and more practical. It is cheap for law makers to take advantage of immigrants because they can not vote. It is particularly unfair to legal immigrants because they are also tax payers.
Illegal immigration
The economy won't be "devestated" by deporting illegal aliens. Anyone who makes such outrageous claims has a vested interest in having cheap labor here. The savings to taxpayers by not having to support illegals will be tremendous. If you are getting paid less than minimum wage under the table and therefore not paying taxes on it, how much are you really contributing to the local, state, and federal economy? Most send the money they make back home to relatives, 25 billion went to Mexico alone last year. An estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens isn't a "small, hard working group of people", it's an invasion. Deport, not support.
Privileges
Illegal aliens should not have any of the privileges of being a US citizen, that includes driving, medical care, social services and education of the children. And let's see, if they can't speak english, if they can't read english, we let them have a drivers license! That makes absolutely no sense. And if they can't read or speak the language, they shouldn't be able to purchase cars, and I'm pretty sure they're also driving uninsured! They are by their illegality costing me money, increased insurance rates, higher medical care expenses, and the list just goes on and on. And since this is America and English is spoken here, no I don't want to press 1 for English, I just want English. They are Illegal Aliens - they are not immigrants, they are of no benefit to me and I for one want them gone, whatever their nationality.