RICHMOND

Virginia lawmakers voted overwhelmingly this session to deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes and to require jailers to ask people they take into custody about their status.

And they passed legislation requiring all public entities to include in their contracts a clause that requires contractors to certify they won't hire illegal immigrants. The bills are some of a handful of new immigration measures that came out of the General Assembly. But some of the legislation aimed at getting tough on illegal immigrants did not survive.

"It's no surprise. It takes a long time to get anything done in Richmond," said Greg Letiecq, executive director of Save the Old Dominion, a Manassas-based group that lobbies against illegal immigration.

Others questioned whether stronger action taken by the General Assembly was necessary and actually made people less safe.

"When local police are seen as immigration agents, it destroys community policing efforts and undermines the trust between law enforcement and the immigrant communities of Virginia," said Tim Freilich, legal director of the Legal Aid Justice Center's Immigrant Advocacy Program.

Advocates for immigrants and some public safety professionals lamented the narrow defeat Wednesday in the House of Delegates of SB441, legislation that would have prevented law enforcement officials from asking crime victims or witnesses about their immigration status.

"They were terrified that somebody would call it a pro-immigrant vote. So they left our police without a tool that they could use to get gang members and other dangerous criminals off our streets," said Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, lobbyist for the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations.

Other high-profile measures that didn't survive include:

- HB1472, which would have protected employers from lawsuits if they fired people for not speaking English on the job

- HB623, which requests that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine enter into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to allow some state and local officers to assist in immigration law functions.

Still being debated is SB652, which would deny in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. At the start of the session in January, Republicans, who control the House, identified fighting illegal immigration as one of their top priorities.

As the weeks progressed, they narrowed their focus to law-and-order bills to target illegal immigrants who commit crimes and punish employers who hire illegal workers.

Democrats, who have a majority in the Senate, believe that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, said. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, estimated only a handful of the 25 to 30 anti-illegal immigration bills passed the Senate or its committees.

"We try not to be about building people's campaign brochures, and that's essentially what most of these bills are," Saslaw said.

Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, said it was hard to argue that the legislation passed affects illegal immigration in the Commonwealth. "There were some of the absolute basics passed," Cuccinelli said. "Those were the no-brainers of the no-brainers."

Del. Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth, said the General Assembly makes little progress on the issue of illegal immigration by passing piecemeal measures and "legislating around the edges."

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com

Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com