Should Virginia adopt an illegal immigration law similar to Arizona?
By Alan Moore | Friday, April 30th, 2010 | Catch-AllAnyone who has stepped in Northern Virginia knows that illegal immigration is a major problem. Led by Corey Stewart, Prince William County has taken steps to combat this in their neck of the woods. In Fairfax County the education budget exploded when an influx of illegal immigrant children entered into the school system after the Prince William crackdown. Herndon, Chantilly, and Springfield are also hotbeds for illegal immigrants looking for work.
With the federal government, which is already stretched thin, focusing more on cracking down businesses hiring illegals, should Virginia adopt similar measures to that of Arizona?
Arizona Senate bill 1070, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, allows law enforcement officials to detain anyone that gives them a reasonable suspicion that they are in the country illegally if that suspect is already involved in committing a crime. They are then to be turned over to federal immigration officials. Law enforcement personnel are prohibited from “solely considering race, color, or national origin” in enforcing this new law.
Arizona implemented this law mainly because of their security concerns on the U.S. border with Mexico. Crime, with a major concern to drug cartels, was the driving force behind the bill. The failure by the federal government to protect the borders also was a major component. In Virginia crime is a problem, particularly with gangs like MS-13, but the economic burdens might be the bigger reason to create such a law.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that there are around 295,000 illegal immigrants living in Virginia, as of June 2009. This amounts to the 10th highest illegal immigration population in the country. Taxpayer costs amount to $1.7 billion for medical bills, incarceration, and education. This comes to an average Virginia taxpayer bill of around $625. Almost $1.56 billion of that $1.7 billion goes to educate an estimated 70,000 illegal immigrant children.
Opponents of the law, like Rev. Al Sharpton, believe the law will lead to racial profiling. They also argue that a state does not have the constitutional authority to supplant federal statutes concerning enforcement of illegal immigration laws.
Despite the controversy surrounding the Arizona law (which has not taken effect yet) illegal immigrants are reportedly leaving the state in droves.
Oklahoma and Texas have signaled that there might be some interest from lawmakers to enact a similar law. In Virginia, however, Governor McDonnell told the Washington Post that he isn’t too pleased with the Arizona law:
“I’m concerned about the whole idea of carrying papers and always having to be able to prove your citizenship. That brings up some shades of some other regimes that weren’t necessarily helpful to democracy.
“There’s a divide, I’m finding, between Republicans who are ready to accept Rasmussen poll results as validation that the bill is a winner for them, and Republicans who see long-term damage in Arizona.”
So what do you think?
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Alan Moore is a conservative activist and public relations expert in NoVA. Follow Alan on Twitter: @SecPress
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29 Responses to "Should Virginia adopt an illegal immigration law similar to Arizona?"
Give it a year and see how it plays out.
Is that a real sign?
I am for the law for Virginia. I read it and what is stated above is true, additionally there is NO requirement to carry “papers” or ID as some people have said. Also, it really just supports current Federal law. The law does try to prohibit “sanctuary cities.” The important thing is that we pass a law before a neighboring state does. Just think of the additional burden to California as illegal immigrants flee Arizona and go to San Francisco.
It’s a real sign. There’s one just south of the check point on I5 just North of SDGO with the people pointed left (going toward the ocean) and one just north of the station with the people going right (coming from the sea). The human traffickers that manage to smuggle them across the border drop them off in a deserted stretch of road just south of the checkpoint, go to the ocean and wade up the coast and when they make their way north of the checkpoint they re-unite with the traffickers. They then proceed back or to their jobs in LA and north CA.
The signs are placed to warn drivers about not running over the people because they normally cross in the dark and wear dark clothes to avoid detection.
Why doe the sign say caution in English, but prohibited in Spanish?
Caution for the mostly english speaking drivers to be alert for crossers and prohibido for the non-english speaking crossers telling them to not cross there.
I like the idea of getting local law enforcement involved in checking for citizen status. However, as Rick Perry stated, some law enforcement agencies are stretched too thin and they just don’t have the manpower necessary for this to work.
Randy,
It will be interesting to see if just passing the law causes a significant number of illegals to leave. If it does, I would think the burden on law enforcement agencies would be minimal.
As this is a non-targeted/primary offense just like the seat belt law, law enforcement will already be involved with the primary offense. On the face, that part doesn’t create an extra burden. What does is if they find a suspicious looking ID and or individual etc, it then entails the extra burden of escorting them back to the precinct for further evaluation. That probably means more clerical staff. Space may be an issue as well as requirements for additional guards/local police force. ISA’s would be put into place for quick response from INS/Border patrol to reduce jail crowding, etc. Data bases are connected so hopefully no new IT requirements attach.
1st: smitty has it correct: let’s wait to see how to better craft our law than AZ or how to avoid lawsuits or how to avoid protests. but i do believe we need to do something since the Feds wont’ do anything.
2d: here’s how the feds don’t do anything: let’s say the local sheriffs or state troopers arrest a bunch of illegals. they hold them in a regional jail & call ICE. ICE does nothing.
3d: and don’t just deport them to juarez (right across the border). deport them way to south mexico so they might be discouraged from making the long trek again.
this sounds so horribly discrimatory. but we already have laws these people aren’t following. and our state/fed taxes dollars support them in many ways even as they violate our laws.
Kelley you going to vote for do nothing Schoenewald tomorrow like Tucker told you to do. Tucker thanked him for the 5th district site that hasn’t even mentioned the convention or hasn’t been updated since Dec. 03 2009.
will, I don’t know Tucker Watkins.
I haven’t been able to research this, but it would be interesting to research what “Lawful Contact” means in Arizona state law. Section two of SB 1070 states that for any “Lawful Contact” made by a law enforcement officer where reasonable suspicion of illegal status exists, then a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status is required of the law enforcement officers. So, does “Lawful Contact” mean an officer pulling over to help someone fix a flat tire, or does it have to be a crime like shoplifting, or a moving violation such as speeding?
I am sympathetic to Kelley’s view that illegal aliens are breaking the law simply by being in the country and that we should simply deport them far away because of this. Given the way U.S. law is written, that is the most logical and consistent approach, one the U.S. Gov’t has failed to enforce and now AZ signed this law to deal with the lack of Fed enforcement.
But, isn’t the AZ bad legislation chasing bad legislation? While the law states that racial discrimination isn’t going to be at play, practically it must to enforce the law. I mean, we just don’t have a problem with millions of red-head Irish people swimming across the Atlantic and invading New England. Cops really aren’t worried about the immigration status of someone who is red-headed, green-eyed, and pasty. So, people that look Hispanic are going to be disproportionately affected by this law in AZ then people of other skin color, practically there isn’t much way around that no matter what the law says. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, but this law could create a class of citizens who have to always carry identification on them, just to prove their immigration status. I have to carry my driver’s license on me to drive, but what if I want to go for a jog? Will Hispanics now feel that they can’t leave their house for any reason without identification, even to jog down the street? Do we want laws in the U.S. to communicate this to people? McDonnell’s concerns are right on the money with regard to this issue, the idea comes from such regimes like Nazi Germany which is not a country we want to emulate in any way.
Think also on the impact to the AZ economy. I actually predict this law will hurt the average AZ legal resident/consumer. One of the main staples of the law was that it would stop the hiring of “Day Laborers”. These very Day Laborers keep prices low for the ever AZ resident. Think of this scenario. Acme Construction employs 12 people, but 6 of them are illegal alien “Day Laborers”. Under the new AZ law, Acme Construction just lost half of its work force. The politicians who wrote the law state that now Americans can take the spots vacated by the “Day Laborers”. However, suppose in this example an American worker demands twice the total compensation compared to the Day Laborer. Acme Construction now has two choices. Hire, only three new workers, which will keep prices the same, but now houses will take longer to build. Or, hire 6 American workers to keep on schedule and raise prices to pay them. Either wait time will rise, or prices will rise. Both are a cost, and both scenario’s are bad for AZ consumers.
Instead of trying to “fix” our illegal immigration “problem” with more legislation, why can’t we realize that this problem is a creation of our bad Federal immigration policy, and reform it! Until the 1920′s the U.S. had open borders! What happened to “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”!? Most illegal immigrants embody this principle to a greater degree then many American’s that were born here. They are taking huge risks, to work, support a family, and chase what we call the American Dream. Why are we punishing them?
Should we be tough on violent offenders, absolutely. I hate seeing on the news how a rapist was let out after serving only 6 months. Put them away for life. However, the vast majority of immigrants, illegal and legal, are peaceful people that come to America to find work. We should reform, current immigration policy by making it easier to come to America legally to work, get rid of minimum wage laws (it’s not morally wrong to pick strawberries or build houses for $3 an hour if that is the market rate!), and then many of the problems that the AZ law is trying to fix will probably solve themselves.
I do not believe the new AZ law will stand up in court. A simple and better fix is to charge business owners a $10,000 per illegal employee found to be working for that owners business. If we hold AMERICANS ACCOUNTABLE to OUR OWN LAWS, we can fix this problem. Now the only persons getting punished are the employee and the taxpayers. Business owners get off free without being accountable. Make it the responsibility of the hiring owner to screen his employees when he hires them.
Once there is no economic advantage to coming here, the masses will stop coming. There will always be a problem with folks coming in for many other reasons but economics is the major factor driving this issue.
To be clear, I am not opposed to allowing immigrants becoming citizens of this country legally. America is a melting pot and should continue to welcome legal immigration. No need for new billion dollar fences, camera systems or more ICE or cops to check papers.
William, from what I understand, business owners stand to be sued if they don’t hire based on suspicious looking ID at hiring on grounds of discrimination. Same goes for housing. “Suspicious” is subjective.
While, I agree that businesses should be held accountable, that task is even more daunting and subject to accusations of profiling, than the Arizona law of checking those that law Enforcement has made legal contact with (probable cause). Just imagine how many businesses there are and how many different employees with differing levels of legitimate and fake identification at hiring. I seriously think we’d have a better chance of watching every square inch of the border.
I admit, I have been pulled over for speeding before. Guess what? The good officer asked for my “papers”. Well, drivers lincense and registration, anyway. I had to identify myself. Don’t get me started about the DMV.
I support the Arizona law. If the Feds won’t protect America and the rule of law, it will be left to the states. That said, I agree that business should be liable, but it needs to be done fairly and not create an unfunded mandate that has the corner store doing government work, but sued for doing it. I also agree that laws must be enforced. Without rule of law, where are we? Just what will our Constitution mean without it?
This whole thing of rewarding illegal immigration and making things nearly impossible for those TRYING to immigrate legally is just unhealthy for the nation. We definitely need to streamline the legal immigration process along with enforcement of current laws.
WB, I agree that if every business owner is held accountable financially to hire only legal residents, it will take away the incentive to hire illegal immigrants. I have to have all documents from every employee proving they are a legal resident in order to hire them. Anything to keep the cost away from the taxpayer is the best idea.
Virginia does not need a law that makes illegal aliens illegal. They are already illegal! We just need the Federal Government to enforce the immigration laws that presently exist. Why is it not clear that illegal aliens should be removed from the country. Get status legally and that will fix the problem. It is simply a paper problem. No one should be exempt from being prosecuted for illegal activity. Just because a motorist speeds does not mean he will get a ticket, but if he gets caught speeding he should certainly be prosecuted. Wake up and read a dictionary!
I think we should adopt a law similar to AZ but pay attention to the wording of the legislation. It is a shame that even conservatives are divided on the issue now because of how this legislation will be interpreted by lawmakers and law enforcement. Illegal immigration is a huge problem all over the US. There are many people that “wait in line” to come here like my parents did almost 45 years ago. Just because they are connected to us by a border does not give them the right to “cut in line.” Whether they are nice people, honest and hard working, they broke the law. When I break the law, I get punished, why should they be given preferential treatment? Enforce the law. I think all the racial profiling worry is just that worry. Already a sheriff was shot by a Hispanic drug mule trying to bring “goods’ across the border. Where is the outrage for this sheriff? However if the tables were turned, and the drug mule was shot, people would be crying racism. Illegal is illegal, get them out. This is the law of the land. Let’s enforce it.
NO… Virginia should not institute a law similar to the Arizona Illegal Immigrant law. Employers that hire Illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and made to pay large fines. It is not that hard for them to check legal status. Stating that employers would be accused of profiling is ridiculous. All they have to do is check legal status of EVERYONE they hire. It would be far less costly to the taxpayers for VIRGINIA to enforce laws they already have in place.
How are employers going about hiring? Why aren’t the employers that hire illegals posting their jobs at the Virginia Employment commision? Could it be that they are unwilling to pay a decent wage? Could it be that many of these people are hired “under the table” so that the employers do not have to pay FICA, unemployment insurance, etc.? These employers do not want to pay for any medical insurance for their workers.. they have no loyalty to hiring legal employees or American Born employees.
The reason illegals are playing the race card is because its the only “defense” they have.
See, the reason they can claim racial profiling is simple. Just look at every statistic about illegals and you will that a very large majority of them are hispanic. We do have illegals from other countries but no where near as many as we do hispanic illegals.
One step we need to do is get rid of the “anchor baby” laws. I’m sorry, but they need to fix their own country. We have tried and tried to help out and all it has done is cause us too many problems.
Should Virginia adopt an illegal immigration law similar to Arizona? Maybe we should each just adopt an illegal immigrant. May be cheaper in the long run. Stream line adoption laws and increase legal age of adoptions to @ 26 (similar to health care reform increasing age of dependant coverage). There would be immediate tax advantages to the adoptive families.
Looks like a “fix” bill was passed seeking to define the most vague terms.
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12405938
Some of the constitutional issues might have been dealt with in the fix bill, but immigrants are good for the country. The problem isn’t that they are mostly hispanic, 100 years ago most immigrants were European. However, 100 years ago there was no such thing as an “illegal” because we didn’t have immigration restrictions. If we removed our bad federal immigration policies, many of the current issues regarding immigration would solve themselves.
Yes Virgina should as well as all 50 states..enough already. The Gov needs to stop apeasing these illegals. And all compaines that hire them should be fined and jailed..
OF course we need such a law here. The federal Government clearly does not want to enforce immigration law. The illegals and their supporters having nothing to stand on but to yell racism.
It’s also Federal Law that people with green cards must carry them at all times.
On the flip side, New York wants to provide amnesty to illegals and other immigrants who have been given a deportation order from the Feds. Of course because that’s in favor illegals, that plan has not been demonized by the media or the libs.
a law like this one is not needed the law we need is to imprison employers who hire illegals 1 year to start and 10 years max no jobs no illegals
I liked Ike’s approach.. he would be on top of this by now.. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html
Yes we should adopt this law. Number 1, it will scare a lot of them away, 2, the ones it doesn’t put them in jail, don’t just carry them back so they can cross again…there has to be punishment for breaking the law.
And by the way most of them are illegal so you don’t have to worry about them having to always carry their papers…they don’t have any!
It’s going to save us so much money that we are now lacking, everywhere I hear budget cuts going on …
Stop being so pansy…they are trying to take over california already, they think the land belongs to them…it’s time for us to wake up.
Did you know that the mexican military had caravans coming in, shooting our border patrol, 2 died that I know of … Our federal government is not going to do anything about it and it has to be done…like yesterday…so stop pussyfooting around….lets wait a year…whatever…the time is now dammit
All states must follow Arizona now. This is our last chance to end the madness.
If they want to live here get a passport. I agree with arizona’s law. If you are not here illegally, then you have nothing to fear! It’s no different then when they do car insurance checks. Use that as a reason if you want to. We live in Fairfax and i see illegal immmigrants all the time. How do I know, because they will tell you if you ask them. It’s like a joke!
I think we should have a law like Arizona.
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