When a neighboring county denied services to illegal immigrants, some Stafford County residents were fearful the undocumented aliens would move to their county, supervisors say. Heeding those fears, the Board of Supervisors proposed creating a task force that would evaluate the effects of illegal immigrants in Stafford County and declared English as the county's official language.

The county that borders the Potomac River is the latest Virginia locality to take a stand on the national issue of illegal immigration.

Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer proposed the task force approved Tuesday night.

"I, under no circumstances, believe we should deny services to anyone in need," he said. "But, don't encourage people to come here, too."

The task force will help identify the problems often associated with illegal immigration, such as a greater demand on health and human services, Dudenhefer said.

The board passed the task force proposal in a 6-1 vote as a first step toward identifying illegal immigration problems.

"At least, in my opinion, it's a fair proposal," Supervisor George Schwartz said. "We have no data, no facts or figures. We don't know what's going on."

Pete Fields voted against the creation of a task force. "The end result can't help but result in the classification of certain people living in this county, separate of other people as a whole," he noted. "I can't support that."

Fields also cast the dissenting vote on the English resolution, which he called "an empty gesture and a little bit aggressive against a segment of our community."

Earlier this month, Culpeper County passed a similar resolution declaring English as its official language.

Last week, Spotsylvania County supervisors requested data on the number of illegal immigrants.