Latinos Sue Prince William Co. Over Immigration Resolution
posted 9:07 pm Wed October 10, 2007 - Washington
The resolution allows local police to check the residency status of individuals they encounter, authorizes county employees to collect immigration data on people who seek public benefits and seeks to deny public services including housing assistance, drug rehab for jail inmates and senior programs, to illegal immigrants.
"This ordinance, which expresses the worst instincts of a few in the county, is destroying the basic fabric of community life," said Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The group filed the lawsuit with the Washington law firm Howrey LLP and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. It was filed on behalf of 21 plaintiffs ranging from U.S. citizens to undocumented residents and others with transitional status. The Woodbridge Workers Committee, which is considered by day laborers in the county as their official representative, is the 22nd plaintiff.
"Nowhere in the country have the courts upheld the right of counties to do what Prince William County is trying to do," Perales said.
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said he believed the resolution would hold up in court.
"We carefully drafted the resolution and its implementation in anticipation of lawsuits and we are confident that it will withstand this and any other legal challenge that might arise," he said.
The resolution has placed Prince William County at the center of a debate on how to handle the region's growing immigrant population. Gov. Tim Kaine and other officials have criticized Congress for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration, which has prompted local jurisdictions to take the matter into their own hands.
Earlier this month, Prince William supervisors unanimously approved the new police department policy. But they held off on authorizing an extra $2.5 million a year needed to implement it. A final vote on the service restrictions and allocation of funding is planned for Oct. 16.
Perales expressed his concerns about how the measure has already seeped into many areas of everyday life: the concern about racial profiling by police when they choose whose residency status to check, the fear in the community of families being torn apart, and the detriment to legal residents, the county's economy, and the divisiveness he believes it will cause between neighbors. He worried that children would grow to mistrust police if they perceived them as officials who could deport their parents.
"This is a horrible thing," Perales said. "This is a most un-American thing that has been perpetrated by the board of supervisors."
Latest Comment on Latinos Sue Prince William Co. Over Immigration Resolution
BTru2SelfFirst
9:27 pm on 10/16/07
According to a recent ABC 7 News poll, 86 percent of the 929 votes cast agree that local communities SHOULD DENY services to ALL ILLEGAL immigrants..I am baffled, why is this such an issue? If you are LEGALLY in this COUNTRY why are you trying to SUE? Ooooh, for your family members who are here ILLEGALLY. No legal Papers, No taxes, No Voice, No vote. ILLEGAL immigrants should NOT be allowed to STAY ANYWHERE in this COUNTRY let alone...RECEIVE BENEFITS. All counties should stand up and VOTE for deportation of Illegal immigrants. Seems that the majority of US legal citizens are against illegal immigrants receiving benefits from taxpaying citizens so why aren't the politicians we voted for "representing" U.S. Legal citizens? If the politicians aren't going to support those who put them in office GET OUT... I believe most americans are for anyone having opportunity but if it is done legally not if immigrants and BUSINESSES break the law to do it (especially, if the average LEGAL citizen is penalized for breaking a law) Why should so much time be spent addressing such an issue? SEND THEM BACK TO THEIR COUNTRY. Politicians should VOTE FOR THE MAJORITY -- THE CITIZENS WHO VOTED FOR YOU. Politicians Show some BACKBONE. Please vote.
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