Discussion Rages on Virginia and Illegal Immigration

By: Lowell
Published On: 1/31/2007 10:27:58 AM

Today's Washington Post has a story about "a far-reaching proposal [in the Virginia House of Delegates]...to strip charities and other organizations of state and local funding if any of the money is used to provide services to immigrants in the country illegally."  That has kicked off a - surprise surprise - heated discussion here. Sample comments:

About time, tht someone has the balls to do something about the illegals, but i cant see doing it to just the adults, it shold be all illegals, get rid of them,stop giving free medical, education, etc. to all the illegals, send them back, im sure out of a 1,000 hispanics, 950 are illegal, bravo, bravo, Virginia, now lets hope that the rest of the states follow suit.

and

Souns like a great strategy. Let them slip into the country and start to get established, then cut them off at the knees and cause them to become desperate enough to maybe start commiting crimes to make ends meet. Makes a lot of sense, and certaninly clears things up for the cops because at that point they will be criminal - wouldnt you?

So...is cutting off state funding to groups like Commonwealth Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army the right way to go?  Is it political pandering by Republicans in an election year, or is it simply good public policy?  Is it racist or not?  What do you think? 

Comments



Lowell....you left out amoral and cruel (Dianne - 1/31/2007 12:55:52 PM)
To put this in perspective, here's a list of the Democrats  who voted for this bill (HB 2937)yesterday:

Alexander
Armstrong
Barlow
Dance
Howell, AT
Joannou
Johnson
Lewis
McClellan
Miller, P
Phillips

I'm disappointed in the Democrats who voted yes to this brutish and callous bill.  At least the Catholic Charities said that they'd continue to serve all. 

Whether it's about political pandering, racism, public policy....it's trumped by the fact that it's amoral and cruel.



bad idea alert (finnegan - 1/31/2007 1:01:55 PM)
This is not good public policy.

First of all, being undocumented is NOT a crime under the law. No attempt by Congress to criminalize being here without permission has been successful.

Secondly, the way the US economy has developed, we need unskilled laborers here, but are not willing to grant more visas for them. If you're rich and educated, it's easy to get legal status and stay here. If not, you're outta luck. The US is trying to have its cake and eat it too.

I've been tracking the illegal immigration issue in the Shenandoah Valley on hburgnews.com for a while now.



More relevant quotes and brief comment (novamiddleman - 1/31/2007 2:09:12 PM)
"This is to make sure the monies that are going to charities and organizations go to the people they are intended to go to, which is legal immigrants," said Del. Jackson H. Miller (R-Manassas), the sponsor of the bill. "The ultimate goal is to make the commonwealth of Virginia an unwelcome place if you are in this country illegally."

"There are bills to deny in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants, punish employers who hire undocumented workers and expand the power of state and local police so they can help federal authorities apprehend people in the country illegally. Other pieces of legislation would make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to come to Virginia."

Castañaga countered that the policy will lead to situations of racial profiling, in which police could stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. "This has implications for everyone who is an immigrant walking down the street, unless you have a sign that says, 'Hi, I am legal,' " Castañaga said.
___________________________________________________________

It's hard to just address this particular proposal without looking at the entire issue of illegal immigration

The measure passed 70-29

This bill makes sense under the larger purpose of "making Virginia an unwelcome place if you are in this country illegally"

However, the process of implementing the policy would be difficult.  Basically asking everyone and then if they don't have documentation then what would charties report them?

People would be afraid to get assistance then and then all it would take is for one person to die and then you have a real crisis.

No easy answers here illegal immigration is a tough nut to crack.  More needs to be done at the border. Once people are in the country from a humanity perspective it gets really tough. 

One other thing the racial issue is a red herring that should not factor into the illegal immigrant discussion but it is used by both "sides" to energize different groups and feelings among individuals.



Has the Virginia House of Delegates jumped the shark? (econlibVA - 1/31/2007 2:15:20 PM)
The bill is horribly racist and xenophobic, and could really harm both legal and illegal immigrants.  I hope that this bill, and other bills like it, are the end of the Republican Party majority here in Virginia, just like it was in California.  We need to run all these anti-immigrant SOBs out of office.  The Republican-dominated House of Delegates is only interested in hatred and intolerance, and not in making Virginia a better place for all who live here.


I think the Virginia House of Delegates (Lowell - 1/31/2007 4:15:28 PM)
...jumped the shark a LOOOONG time ago.  Baggy pants, anyone?  How about total gridlock on, well, GRIDLOCK!  Can we say "it's time for a change?"


Agree with a previous poster....kick the bums out (Dianne - 1/31/2007 7:52:43 PM)
Moran and Marshall (the author)were on Washington Post radio discussing this issue this afternoon. 

However, sadly we had 11 Democrats support this bill.  I think that itself is shameful. 

Just all the more reason to work hard on the delegate races this year so we can take back Virginia and make it a friendly place to live.



Intellectual honesty on immigration (relawson - 2/1/2007 12:35:32 AM)
There are so many aspects to this.  You would be cold-blooded if you didn't recognize the human issues and hardships faced by the illegal workers.  But, you would also be cold-blooded if you don't recognize hardships faced by American workers.

As someone who has picked fruit and worked hard on the family farm doing tough work that most people can't imagine, I can tell you that Americans will do that job.  However, they won't do that job for below market rates. 

There are no jobs Americans won't do.  There are however wages that Americans won't accept because they are too low.

Regarding illegal workers, there is a reason they come.  Companies hire them.  I think we should get serious on illegal immigration.  The remedy to this problem is tough enforcement against employers, not workers.  I oppose guest worker visas because they are really a form of indentured servitude. 

If we have more forms of legal immigration, it shouldn't be tied to a specific employer.  That is what they do with the H-1b and L1 visas and we have defacto indentured servants as a result.  The same thing will happen with low-skilled labor.  It is un-American to exploit people like that.