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Impact of Prince William policy unclear
While a crackdown on illegal immigration in Prince William County has been seemingly effective there, some say surrounding jurisdictions may be taking the impact.“We have anecdotal information that illegal aliens are leaving Prince William County primarily for Fairfax, Montgomery and Arlington counties,” said Greg Letiecq, a Manassas resident involved with anti-illegal immigration groups Save the Old Dominion and Help Save Manassas.
But while Fairfax County officials acknowledge changes in the county's immigrant population, they deny that they are definitely linked with Prince William crackdowns.
“It's too early to tell,” said Michael Frey (R) a Fairfax County Supervisor representing the Sully District. “That fact is that departures from Prince William are anecdotal.”
David Ellis, who works in the county's Department of Systems Management for Human Service, said there is no evidence illegal immigrants are fleeing Prince William County for Fairfax County.
People of all races move back and forth from Prince William and Fairfax counties all the time, said Ellis, who has worked with illegal immigration issues for several years. “It's kind of hard to put a cause and effect on it all,” he said.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted last fall to allow police officers to check immigration status of people they suspect may be in the country illegally, a controversial move that has attracted national attention.
Months later, a board member of the Virginia Department of Education asked public school systems throughout Northern Virginia to report how many English for Speakers of Other Languages students transfered from Prince William County during this school year. Together, Northern Virginia schools reported a net increase of about 1,200 ESOL transfers from Prince William at the end of March, Julie Grimes, a spokesperson for the education department, said. Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria reported an increase of 700 ESOL students from Prince William, Grimes said.
According to Paul Regnier, a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools, there were 623 ESOL students who transferred from Prince William between September and March. That's an increase of about 400 ESOL student transfers from that county in the same time frame last year.
However, there is no way to tell if the increase had anything to do with Prince William County's crack down, Regnier said.
Members of Capital Area Alliance Against Illegal Immigration – an organization of several grassroots groups – are hopeful the migration will force officials of other jurisdictions to consider stronger crackdowns, Letiecq said.
“The Prince William County plan is working, but we have to continue to push this in other areas,” said Brad Botwin, head of Help Save Maryland. Botwin said people are worried about an increase of day laborer sites in Maryland.
“We are hoping to demonstrate to others that there are significant costs associated with serving illegal immigrants,” Letiecq said.
He wondered if Fairfax board chairman Gerry Connolly (D) “will now talk about the costs of extending the welcome mat to illegal aliens.”
Because the number of ESOL students in other parts of the county have decreased, the program's projected growth should remain about the same, Teddi Predaris, director of Fairfax County's ESOL office, said.
Frey said that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, known for viewing Prince William's crackdowns as too extreme, haven't discussed any sort of policy change to deal with illegal immigrants.
“The truth is far more complex,” Frey said, adding that a lot of factors such as the economy and a decline in construction jobs in Prince William County may be affecting the immigrant population as well.
Sen. John Watkins (R-Chesterfield), chair of the state's new immigration commission, said he hasn't heard about people fleeing Prince William for other areas, but he is hearing the policies are “having an adverse affect on people's lives.”
Gov. Tim Kaine (D) formed the Virginia Commission on Immigration and tasked the group with advising lawmakers about immigration policies in response to legislation passed by the General Assembly.
Watkins said he is concerned that some of what Prince William officials have done “borders on harassment.”
"Impact of Prince William policy unclear" Unclear to whom??? My family has the absolute right to live in a county of LEGAL citizens. I FULLY SUPPORT THE ENFORCEMENT OF ALL LAWS; ESPECIALLY IMMIGRATION LAWS. LAWS WITHOUT ENFORCEMENT ARE USELESS LAWS. I AM SICK AND TIRED OF MY TAX DOLLARS BEING SPENT PROVIDING SERVICES TO THOSE WHO ARE ILLEGAL IN OUR COUNTY. THE LEGAL VOTERS OF FAIRFAX WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THOSE WHO SIDE WITH THE ILLEGALS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS AND THOSE THAT SIDE WITH THE LEGAL CITIZENS OF FAIRFAX. FOR THE LEGAL CITIZENS OF FAIRFAX, ILLEGAL WILL ALWAYS BE ILLEGAL AND A LOSING STRATEGY FOR THE COUNTY.
How fitting on this Memorial Weekend that the American Legion, representing the fine service men and women who have defended our great nation, publish a booklet, "A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States". Marty Conatser, national commander, quotes "we are a nation of laws and since we all swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States when we donned our uniforms, we believe strongly that the security and sovereignty of our nation must be our highest priority through stringent enforcement of our immigration laws."
Your readers may obtain a copy of this publication at:
http://www.legion.org/whatsnew/bulletins
The Rule Of Law is paramount in our society.
Mr. Baxter
Posted by Gbaxter
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Unclear my butt! We in PWC are shipping you all of our scumbag illegal invaders and your politicians refuse to acknowledge it! They'd prefer to lie to you to keep you paying your taxes to support the illegals, so companies can hire them and make more profits, thus contribute more to their campaign funds. You guys are suckers. Better start up Help Save Fairfax while you still have a couple of nickels to rub together.
Posted by Advocator
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The American Legion publication, A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States, is very well written and in Matter-Of-Fact-Terms details the social and economical cost facing every level of society in America. The question is will the Town of Vienna elected officials take the recommendations of the American Legion and implement local ordinances to address the widespread and growing threat that persons residing illegally in the Town represent? Or, will our elected officials cower and submit to the will of people who are illegal in our country and abandon the LEGAL citizens of Vienna? In-action is, in it’s self, a justifiable rational for recall of officials that refuse to defend The-Rule-Of-Law and to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. It is the ultimate slap of hypocrisy for our elected officials to turn and face our Country’s glorious Flag and commence EVERY Town Council Meeting with the nation’s pledge of allegiance; and to immediate proceed to ignore the threat to every LEGAL citizen of the town.
Posted by Phenry
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