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| Latinos in Prince William County protest an anti-illegal-immigrant law.
(Getty Images file photo) |
By Dale Eisman
The Virginian-Pilot
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY
The polls had been closed and his re-election secured for hours late Tuesday, but Corey Stewart, the chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, was still in fighting form.
"We are never going to stop defending our communities from the effects of illegal immigration. Ever!" Stewart yelled into a microphone at the local Republican Party's post-election reception. "This community strongly supported this crackdown on illegal immigration and tonight laid to rest any other idea."
Democrats this week celebrated a resurgence in the Virginia General Assembly and claimed victories for moderation in the emotionally charged debate over illegal immigration.
But here, in a changing suburb where 1 in 5 residents has Hispanic roots, there are ample signs that the issue remains an emerging force in Virginia politics.
Carlos Labiosa, a retired soldier who is vice chairman of Prince William's Human Rights Commission, said he had hoped that after a wrenching summer and fall of nationally publicized struggles over the county's planned ordinance to crack down on illegal immigrants, voters "would have said, 'OK, enough is enough.' "
Instead, Stewart and six other supervisors who voted for the law were resoundingly re-elected. The board's only open seat was claimed by a Democrat who expressed reservations about the initiative but also told one interviewer that "people want something done about illegal immigration, and rightly so when it impacts their neighborhoods or their safety."
The debate in Prince William, Virginia's third-most-populous locality, has been the focus of national attention. The ground-breaking ordinance adds immigration enforcement to the duties of local police and would deny a range of public services to illegal immigrants. A challenge to the law already is under way in federal court in Alexandria.
But crackdowns on illegal immigrants also are being studied in nearby Loudoun and Stafford counties and in Chesterfield County, south of Richmond, among others.
Immigration issues have particular resonance in the Washington suburbs, where the building boom that began in the late 1990s attracted thousands of carpenters, plumbers, painters and other tradesmen, many of them Latino.
Immigrant populations in parts of the region have more than doubled since 2000, according to Census Bureau estimates. The influx has added to the political volatility of a region whose 1.4 million registered voters have helped tip three of the last four statewide elections to the Democrats.
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No one knows how many of the new residents - Latino and otherwise - are illegal.
But whatever their status, their presence has swelled already vibrant Hispanic communities in inner suburbs such as Fairfax County and Falls Church. And in outlying localities such as Prince William, where census estimates indicate the Hispanic population has grown by more than 41,000 in just seven years, cultural clashes abound.
"Anybody that's an immigrant is going to be suffering in the county now," Labiosa said. With Stewart claiming a mandate to pursue tough local action against illegal immigrants, he added, the reaction among legal and illegal residents alike is, "How fast can I leave?"
"There's a terrible feeling of division," agreed Annabel Park, an independent movie maker who filmed interviews on immigration with dozens of Prince William residents this fall as part of a series of videos that have become hits on the YouTube Web site.
The videos, mostly three to five minutes long, vividly capture the heat of the local debate.
In one, Robert Duecaster, a Gainesville resident, tells the audience at a packed Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting: "We are being invaded.... We are going to repel this invasion."
In another, a finger-pointing but later apologetic Ivania C. Castillo of Dumfries invites Stewart to "kiss my ass."
"It's a gut issue as much as anything, " said Del. Thomas Davis Rust, R-Fairfax, a GOP moderate who was re-elected last week in Herndon, where anti-immigrant sentiment first showed its potency last year in a dispute over a shelter for day laborers. "Every community in Northern Virginia has changed."
Herndon closed its day labor center in September, when the charity hired to run it refused to check the legal status of the 100 or so workers it served daily. Dozens of those and other men now gather each morning on a grassy patch of park land near the town's commercial district; it's one of a dozen or more informal day labor pick up sites that have sprung up across the region.
"All the help you want, you find someone here," native Honduran David Albaro said one recent morning as he joined about 20 or so Latino men at the Herndon site.
"Who's going to cut grass at your house, Who's going to clean the bathroom?" he said. "You don't see gringo guys, Indian guys, Korean guys. Only the Latin people."
Immigration activists argue that the day laborers and other immigrant tradesmen across the region have been vital to growth that has made Northern Virginia the state's principal economic engine.
"Study after study has shown that the contributions of undocumented immigrants exceed the cost" of the government services those immigrants claim, said Tim Freilich, legal director of the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers in Charlottesville.
Freilich said that while local governments are focused on cracking down on illegal immigrants, his office has heard from hundreds of illegal Virginia immigrants who've been hired and then cheated out of their earnings by employers who figure the workers won't pursue the money they're owed.
Meanwhile, immigration crackdown supporters, including John Stirrup, the county supervisor who initiated the Prince William ordinance, argue that illegal immigrants unfairly claim public resources, enjoying police and fire protection, schools and other government services paid for by legal residents.
In an interview, Stirrup said he moved to his home near Haymarket nine years ago in part to escape a wave of immigrants that he believed was fueling crime and driving down property values in his old Arlington neighborhood.
Now, Stirrup said, he and his wife find Latino gang symbols showing up in neighborhood schools, and their neighbors complain of single-family homes that have become boardinghouses for large groups of immigrant workers and families.
Police say gang activity is a problem in the region but that gang-related crime actually has declined in recent years, in part because of a regional law enforcement task force organized in 2000.
But the proliferation of boardinghouses, which stretch if not break zoning regulations in subdivisions set aside for single-family dwellings, is proving a tougher problem, both sides in the immigration debate acknowledge.
In one video posted by Park and her partners, Frank Principi, the Democratic candidate for supervisor in Woodbridge, describes knocking on hundreds of doors across his district this fall and hearing a litany of homeowner complaints about "a home across the street (that) has 10 people living in the basement" or one "that has an upholstery shop operating out of the garage."
Not all the overcrowded homes are occupied by immigrants, of course, but "home-sharing is what all immigrants do," Labiosa said, recalling earlier waves of foreign migration to the United States.
Steven Vallas, a George Mason University researcher, argued that Republicans such as Stirrup and Stewart exploit fears about immigrants and their living arrangements simply to boost their own political fortunes.
A GMU survey Vallas helped conduct earlier this year found that nearly 60 percent of Virginians think that undocumented workers drive down U.S. wages and salaries. And 55 percent say the presence of undocumented residents "hurts American customs and (the) American way of life."
Those sentiments were strongest in outlying communities and rural locales where the immigration issue was hottest this fall, Vallas said.
"You have to meet voters where their concerns are," said Dan Restrepo, an executive at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning think tank in Washington. "When people feel their quality of life is challenged, there's a natural impulse to blame the 'other' - and immigrants are the other."
But some analysts argue that the victories of candidates such as George Barker, a Democrat who unseated state Sen. Jay O'Brien in a district that includes part of Prince William, suggest a way candidates can neutralize the issue and appeal to immigrants and longtime residents alike.
While O'Brien built much of his campaign around his unflinching support for cracking down on illegal immigrants, Barker spoke to larger issues such as school crowding and traffic, said veteran pollster Peter Brodnitz, who consulted on the Barker campaign.
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato thinks that a strategy focused on attacking immigrants will damage Republicans over time.
Among many voters, "Republicans are already seen as too far to the right and too harsh on matters of race.... They always seem to be the ones that are pointing fingers, whether it's on social issues or race," Sabato said. "Those issues tend to work temporarily and then they backfire.
"There is a self-correcting mechanism" in American politics, Sabato said. "Long-term, a lot of (immigrants) become citizens and voters."
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
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Wrong Title for this piece...
It should read, "Illegal Immigration a dividing line". I am a legal immigrant myself, and I think it's unfortunate, that the Pilot is once again showing its leftist liberal bias in how it chooses to approach and influence reader's opinions regarding this volatile subject. It is nice to see the illegal's Mexican flag waving has been replaced by US flags recently; at least the left wing racist La Raza types have identified that concern when organinzing these "spontaneous" demonstrations. Oh, and we were doing our own menial work long before the 1990's illegal invasion, thanks.
How about a reality check?
Ever ask an illegal immigrant, why they are illegal? Do you know how much it costs to become legal? Most of these folks can't afford it right away. Do you know how long it takes to become legal? Over a year if you really stick with it. Ever ask what they have to do to ick a living here? Many of them work 2 or 3 jobs that most Americans will refuse. By the way, illegals can and some do pay taxes. The IRS will and do take their money. Not turning in immigration paperwork does not a criminal make. Most of these folks are honest and hard working and have gone through some serious hardships to get here and stay here. What's more, our economy needs them. Reserve judgment until you have the facts. Fighting illegals is pure nonsense.
The pilot seems to be encouraging illegals
but the vast majority of their readers do not want illegal aliens in the USA. Remember it takes an educated person to be able to read, so what is the motivation for the news paper to appear to be on the side of the illegals??
Golly
You mean all those illegal aliens is liberals? Heck fire. No wonder all them consirvateeves is so gole dern mad. I hear tell some of them ileagles actually think football is played with a little round ball. I bet they is all comunests, seein as how they all come over here to steal our women and get free services and stuff, that no God fearin white American can get. I applied for a job once, I just new I was the bestest man four and someone else got it. I betcha it was one of them ileagle aleins. I just think we gotta export them all back wear they come from. I meen, whut part of ileagle don't they git? I don't know that I want to pay more for grapes though. You think we can keep a few just to pick grapes? I like grapes.
whatever....
so you wanna be a capitalist, but you don't want the free flow of labor? you want secure borders, yet probably support the current occupant of the white house? bush is selling us out to multi-national corporations and we are just sitting here and taking it. the republicans and the democrats are going to do absolutely nothing about the border. nothing. they both have their own schemes on the millions of people coming across our borders. the dems see millions of potential votes to be bought by social programs and an amnesty deal. the republicans, while paying lip service to their base are going to do nothing because the aforementioned major corporations need to compete with the indonesians and taiwanese.we need to change this now!!!!
Think for a second before opening your mouth
Stewart and six other supervisors who voted for the law were resoundingly re-elected. Read this as "The people have spoken." As for those of you who state "are you willling to pay higher costs for legal people to work, blah blah blah..." I offer you a very loud and very clear "Are you kidding me?" What are you... stupid? I am already paying, and so are you, and everyone else. The money these people make is sent bach home! Not kept here. So those "economic benefits" you talk about are a frigging joke. Your insurance goes up every time one of these illegals rams someone with no insurance. You pay education taxes serving people who do not. You pay police, fire, and health taxes again for people who do not. Wake up! This is not good econ 101.
Of course let them become democrats
like one poster suggested. this is the only party that wants to vote in laws that will make sure you pay more in taxes so that they can get what you work for free. healthcare, education, social services... so go ahead, let them all come in, heck, just disband the boarder all together and let us all become one big country. raise our taxes another 30% so that those who come here can have all their services free. we will be just like the French... one problem with that though, the French are slowly learning that you can't do it this way and are turning back on their previous laws for free immigration... but heck, that's the french, i'm sure we can do better... (read with tons of sarcasim...)
Prince William County is winning the fight against illegals
Seems like some folks on here need to retake Economics 101. A flood of illiterate and unskilled illegals picking your lettuce and building your houses isn't saving you, the US consumer, one cent. Au contraire! Market forces determine the price of your next house, not the labor wages paid by the builder. And the true cost of that head of lettuce comes payable on April 15. Your tax dollars are funding illegal alien K-12 education, health care, and incarceration of criminal illegals guilty of murder, rape, drunk driving, etc. In Tennessee, a state overrun by illegals, this tab comes out to $285M annually.
Am I willing to pay more?
To answer Jane, yes, I am willing to pay more so that American workers can have jobs. I look for "made in America" now when possible, and I willingly pay more for it than I would for the made in China garbage that walmart imports. I clean my own house and take care of my own yard, so I don't need some criminal asking me who will do that for me, either. I recently had to take my 92 year old grandmother to the emergency room when she had a stroke. We waited about three hours while a waiting room full of non-English speakers was waited on. I wonder who paid for them? Oh, that's right, I did. I already am paying for services for these people, and I'm tired of it.
Frank's Polls
Thanks to Frank for that CNN poll figure. Unfortunately, CNN isn't a much of a poll taker, with their questions on immigration posed, "do you support a path to citizenship for 20,000,000 illegals, or do you think they should be turned into lampshades and soap?" With a non-leftist media supported by the corporate slave-labor lobby, the pertinent poll phrasing would be, "do you support a program of workplace enforcement, or a massive amnesty that will allow in 20,000,000 illegals; in time, admit an additional 30,000,000 visas for relatives; depress wages further than outsourcing and offshoring already have; and permanently alter the ethnic charachter of the US in favor of an immigrant group whose primary lobbying group is called "The Race" ?
Just Say No To Illegal Aliens & Deport Them Now!
Lets me tell you that you don't want to have your own State
go almost a billion tax dollars in the red just to give 3 million
Illegal Aliens in Arizona,free healthcare,free welfare,free education and free access to public housing as well as them
killing your police officers and dealing drugs like here in
Phoenix. So just say no to Illegal Alien Criminals and round
them and deport them and arrest and jail and fine and also
revoke every illegal alein employers business licenses and
watch how fast they self deport for you. As we see 100
Illegal Alien Families are already leaving Arizona a week since we passed stiff anti-illegal alien laws here. Run them out before you go broke giving these freeloader parasites
all your tax money.
Just a tiny correction
I know it's trivial but a glaring inaccuracy jumped out at me while I read these posts. In 1771, the English were Protestants---not Catholics.
The issue is not with the immigrants
We all need to step back and take a hard look at the real issue we are facing with illegal immigration. We must first ask ourselves, why do they come? The answer is money for their families. The same money that businesses are willing to pay "illegaly" rather than pay the legal way. We don't need more laws, just enforce the ones that we already have in place. If we stop making it attractive for others to break the law, this will solve 98% of our problems. When the economy is at a low, we tend to want to have a scapegoat to blame and the immigration issue is not the scapegoat. I ask you, if this was not the eve of an election, would we be talking about this issue?
who will grow your food
To those who rant against immigrants-I just have one question. Are you willing to pay higher prices for food, housing or other consumer goods so that American workers can be paid a living wage, or would you prefer to continue to benefit from the cheap immigrant labor?
Where does your fear come from?
Adding a little perspective to all the chest beating and flag waving here. In a recent CNN poll, most Americans said they would like to see fewer illegal immigrants in the country, but only three in 10 said they wanted all of them removed. Only 22 percent said they want to see the number decreased a lot. The rest said they wanted the number to increase a lot, stay the same or decrease a little. I think it's easy to believe your deport-them-all rantings are the peoples' will while you're swapping opinions around the trailer park, but the facts say different. Unless you are minimally educated and unskilled, this issue ain't keeping you up at night. Hmmm, I wonder why unskilled American laborers are worried? Maybe they should join a union...
Undocumented Aliens!!!!.
Why do we continue to call illegal immigrants this? Does this mean that an armed robbery should now be called an Unauthorized Weapon Aided Withdraw? Before you start shouting out the anti-immigration card. Let me say my wife was a legal immigrate when I met her it took us 4 years even after the marriage to get her paperwork straight one time she had to return to El Salvador because her visa expired. Yes we could have just stayed here and waited but unlike a lot of people I was raised and will raise my children to follow the laws not break it.
I have spent a number of years overseas with both the military and as a civilian worker. Right now I am overseas working I see why they want to come to America and I would too if I lived in some of these palaces. I also know that I would strive to do it legally and if I could not then I would stay. I guess that means I must be law abiding so be it. I would hope all are but we know that is not true. It just boils down to one thing and that is.
Where is the loyalty?
I have taken the time to research Mexico's immigration policy and the way that government deals with illegals. Yes, they have them, too, from Central and South America. I think we should adopt the same immigration policies that Mexico has. You have an education and money, you can come. Illegal? Jail for you - at the least. If advocating this makes me right wing-- then thank goodness I am. My grandparents came over through Ellis Island and learned English and became citizens. They worked hard, paid taxes, and raised their children who in turn raised their children. This became their country. My grandmother never went back to the old country because as she used to say, "This is my home now." I wish these newcomers had such loyalty.
Guess what folks...
my ancestors came here illegally. It was in 1771, and their ship landed in an area close to what is now Wilmington, North Carolina. They left Scotland to escape the tyrannical rule of the English Catholics after the Reformation. Folks from Latin America are also doing so to escape the tyranny of their respective governments. It might be illegal according to our man-made laws, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to come to the U.S. to have a better life. It's human nature. We should be thankful that these folks want to be free Americans. I hope they become Democrats, too.
xenophobia? ookay...
The nuts are loose again! By the way, Mr Limbaugh doesn't have a blog. He does however have a radio show that even xenophobians can listen to without a decoder device. Lock the doors!
The Problem
We would not have this problem if companies would stop hiring illegals. If the contractors who hire them were held accountable things would not be this bad. I live in America and don't want to feel like it's up to me to learn spanish.
It's time for Illegals to go
Our Government should put the businesses in Jail for hiring these Illegals. If there are no jobs for these types of people then they would leave...America is a place for legal Immigration. No child that is born from an Illegal should get any medical attention unless it is an extreme emergency nor should they be a citizen of the USA. The first most is that they are here Illegal...our laws is for the people that were born as legal citizens. We have no other flag then the USA Flag, We believe in the laws if the USA. Wake up America!! Illegals are not just Mexicans or Latino people; there are Russian's, Middle Eastern, & Asian's. If these people want to come to America then they have to fill out the proper papers like everyone else!!!!
Pack them up....
I say we need to pack them up and send them home if they do not want to be in the USA legally, that is the bottom line along with Businesses that use illegals for cheap labor or for greed I should say. I feel any company that hires illegal s should be permantly closed down and ownwers thrown in jail for life. I do not like immagrants comming and living for free while the Americans like you and I pay their way, either they become legal or we need to send them packing.
Glad corn harvesters were invented before the invasion of ille
...otherwise we'd be overrun by people who claim we'd be paying too much for our crops. You already are paying $2 per strawberry and $8 per orange--it's coming from your taxes and insurance to pay for illegals health care, crime, driving without insurance, multiple families occupying the same house and not paying their share of property taxes while overloading schools with their children and requiring new schools be built with your taxes. Now the invaders wave American flags after they first stuck their country flags in our face and tried to plant them on our soil. Don't you dare invade the best country in the world then call us racist, protectionist or anti-religious for demanding you abide by the rule of law. It will not stand.
If you are legal, then welcome. Otherwise ....
If you are living and working in the USA legally, good for you and welcome. However, if you came here illegally, whether it be upon initial entry or just hid our after a visa or other permit expired, then I say you are not welcome and are a criminal. It doesn't matter if you came through Canada or Mexico. Whether you are Hispanic, Chinese, Russian, etc. If you are here illegally, then you are breaking the laws here and should be punished. No ifs ands or buts about it. If you don't want to risk that, then go home and come back legally.
Illegal = Criminal end of story
The problem is this isn't a republican or far left wacko war. 77% of Americans want to stop illegal immigration thats why the Dems couldn't pass their amnesty bill. If you commit one crime, the next crime gets much easier. We shouldn't give them Hillary's Drivers Licenses or welcome criminal with open arms. Get rid of the criminals and make sure they can't get back in.
I hate the "A" word but we need to do something benificial to
Get all illegals out now! "MissionImpossible". What can we do? 1) Build a secure, fenced/walled southern border ASAP. Armed border guards, dogs, electricity, what ever it takes. 2) Give every illegal now here 3months to register themselves as to being here illegally, giving criminal records, employment records, housing, credit reports.etc. Those with no criminal record,put them on a list to go through the proper immigration channels in an organized process. Deport the criminals. (Parking tickets & simple driving infractions excluded). Show the "good ones," and there are many, that we will welcome them if they will abide by our rules. They can begin this process through their current employers. 3)Can't comform? Free oneway bus ride south.
Tired of laziness !!!
I am tired of hearing how much we will pay for stuff if it was not for illegals. Stop being so selfish and care about those citizens who are losing jobs, contracts and wages to those who hire illegals and do not follow the law. If illegals would spend half the effort they use on breaking our laws and breaking into the country and put that towards fixing the origination of the problem which is their government in their own country, then they wouldnt have to break laws and come here. But do not think for one instance that its ok to break the law if following the law inconviencences you. Come here illegally and to make demands shows a blantant disregard for our laws. Break our laws & you deserve no sympathy when then are enforced & affect you.
An answer to your question about racism and xenophobia
This is not a Mexicans crossing the border issue. Those who believe it is are displaying their racist attitudes and xenophobia. They are also showing that their information comes from Fox news (there's an oxymoron) and Rush Limbaugh's blog. The government estimates that a third to one half of the "invaders" you are so afraid of entered the country "legally" and then melted into society when their Visas or entry documents expired. A fence along the Mexican border won't prevent that. Also, while most undocumented aliens are from Mexico and Latin American countries, an inability to distinguish between Mexicans and, say, Brazilians is another sign of a racist attitude. Please, let's not kid ourselves about the role racism plays in this issue.
Want A Better Life???
If the illegals want a better life as 1 previous writers states, then come her legally like so many millions before them, and then get your better life.I am against giving a illegal entry person the same rights which I have.The constitution does not provide equal rights for illegals nor are they allowed the benefits which I and others paid for.So you better life and equal rights people better open up you eyes and start reading what the laws of the land state about anyone entering this country illegally, that don't have any.
illegal invasion
I don't have a problem with legal immigrants. I do have a problem with illegal immigrants who more often than not are criminals and gang members who couldn't get in otherwise. When gang members start shooting your children in the streets like other major cities you will wake up, probably too late to do anything about it. You won't be able to afford to because they will give them your social security too.