Warner urged to declare emergency in illegals crisis
Christina Bellantoni:
State legislators said yesterday that Virginia is facing an immigration crisis on par with Arizona and New Mexico and urged Gov. Mark Warner to declare an emergency like the governors of those two states did last week.
Delegate Jeffrey M. Frederick, Prince William County Republican, has asked Mr. Warner, a Democrat, to declare a state of emergency to stop the influx of illegal aliens into the state. Mr. Frederick said that even though Virginia does not share a border with Mexico, the state must take such action to tap federal homeland security dollars to fund police efforts to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to federal immigration authorities.
"They might be coming through Arizona, but they are landing here," Mr. Frederick said. "It's getting out of control. We really need to do everything we can and utilize every tool that's available to us."
Mr. Frederick, the only Hispanic member of the General Assembly, said such a move would help stem the drain on taxpayer resources caused by illegals who use public services, including hospitals. He still has relatives in Colombia.
Mr. Frederick's Friday letter to the governor likely will net wide support in the Republican-controlled legislature, which earlier this year overwhelmingly passed a measure denying public benefits to illegal aliens and in 2003 required motorists to prove legal residency to obtain driver's licenses.
Conservative estimates put the number of illegal aliens in Virginia at 100,000 to 200,000.
Mr. Warner, completing his last five months in office, has not responded to Mr. Frederick, who has served in the state House since last year.
Warner spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said the office had received the letter and will review it.
"The governor believes we need a comprehensive federal policy on immigration issues, which would include stricter enforcement of our borders, but the issues Arizona and New Mexico face are not the issues Virginia faces," Miss Qualls said. Virginia's safety, she added, is not threatened by the border with North Carolina.
The state-of-emergency declarations by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson freed $1.5 million and $1.75 million, respectively, in state emergency funding. The money will go to border counties to address problems with violence and human and drug trafficking.
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posted by Adam Lawson @ 11:46 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
"to stop the influx of illegal aliens"
Evidently, this request resulted from an existing, noticeable problem: the presence of a large number of illegals who are already there. Normally, when things get to that point it's already too late. So stopping the "influx" won't really do anything to reverse (what I assume are) the undesirable community changes seen. Looking at it that way, what is really needed is arrest and deportation.
But I guess the stated goal would be a good first step. And it's nice to see more people, especially those in authority, speaking out.
At least the phrase "illegal aliens" is being used - it's being acceptable to talk about the problem. I lived in Northern VA for over 35 years and this problem is acute.
A few years back, a NoVA state legislator proposed a bill that would make it illegal to sleep in rooms other than bedrooms. Crazy, right? Well, the legislator was NOT trying to prohibit you from dozing off in front of the TV in the living room or putting up a visiting cousin in the den.
She was responding to her constituents concerns that apartments that had been rented to 2 or 3 people suddenly contained 8 or more. Houses might contain 15-20 or more people. Folks who had lived for years in middle-working class neighborhoods suddenly saw their neighborhoods awash with houses where the entire front lawn had been paved over for use as a milti-car parking lot. Naturally none of this was happening in the ritzy neighborhoods where most of our elected and , for that matter, non-elected elite live.
At least Del. Frederick is naming the disease, not having to hide behind describing the symptoms.
She was responding to her constituents concerns that apartments that had been rented to 2 or 3 people suddenly contained 8 or more. Houses might contain 15-20 or more people.
This same nonsense happens here in NYC. Landlords can make huge amounts of money renting out apartments to hordes of immigrants even if they are in the country illegally.
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