Coalition set for its first meeting

In response to Culpeper County's initiative to form a multi-jurisdictional coalition on illegal immigration, 21 localities plan to attend today's first meeting.

It will be held at the Germanna Center for Advanced Technology .in classroom 220 at 2 p.m.

Culpeper County Administrator Frank Bossio prepared the agenda, which will address the legislative scope and intent of the coalition and who will take the lead on its future.

Meeting participants also will discuss what issue-driven committees should establish to address the implications and costs of illegal immigration on employment, housing, schools, hospitals and medical care, social services and transportation.
It will close with locality-unique issues and set a calendar for future meetings.

Northumberland County sheriff's Capt. Chuck Wilkins says police officers routinely see the effects of illegal immigration in his Northern Neck community.

He says there are fights and loud music at an apartment complex where Hispanic men, many of them suspected or determined by police to be illegal immigrants, crowd into single-bedroom units where they sleep in shifts. And police regularly arrest illegal immigrants bearing fake documents, Wilkins says.
"I've personally arrested one man with three different identifications," he says. "We would arrest him, he would disappear and resurface under a different name."

Culpeper County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Coates will welcome all attendants, though the meeting will mostly consist of county administrators and town managers.

While the public is welcome to observe, Bossio said there will not be an opportunity for public input becuase the first meeting is largely administrative.

Officials say their goal is to present a united front and to lobby the General Assembly to act where the federal government has failed.

"If we get together in larger numbers, we might get their attention," said Terry A. Pettit, town manager in Stanley, a Shenandoah Valley community of about 1,300 residents.

To date, most efforts by state lawmakers to curb illegal immigration have failed. But the issue has taken center stage in some localities leading up to the Nov. 6 elections.

Help Save Manassas, a grass-roots anti-illegal-immigration group, successfully pushed for a Prince William crackdown that is being challenged in federal court. Similar organizations have popped up in Culpeper, Herndon and Stafford County.

On the other side of the issue are groups such as the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Virginia Justice Center, the Hispanic Committee of Virginia and local advocacy groups.

Among localities joining the coalition, concerns seem to center on crime, the cost of jailing illegal immigrants and access to public services, according to a survey of government officials.
Still, many of the localities say they have not seen negative effects from illegal immigration and have not taken action to quantify the impact or address it.

Dinwiddie officials joined the coalition as a "proactive step," said County Administrator W. Kevin Massengill.

He said most of the county's immigrants - not necessarily illegal ones - work in tobacco and cotton fields. But that could change, he said, with the construction boom that will accompany the expansion of nearby Fort Lee. Illegal immigrants in bricklaying, roofing and other skilled-labor trades could be attracted to the region.

"That's something that could powder-keg this," he said.
To the north, Rappahannock County borders Culpeper and lies near Prince William but has not seen an influx of illegal immigrants, officials say.

Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy said because the county's neighbors are seeing the effects of illegal immigration Rappahannock joined the coalition to find out what other localities have experienced and to see what tools are available.

Jesus Moreno, spokesman for the Hispanic Committee of Virginia, questions why localities that have not seen negative effects would join the coalition.

"That shows me some ignorance," he said. "It doesn't make sense."

Tim Freilich,legal director for the Virginia Justice Center, said localities might create problems where none exist.

"Localities that have attempted to fix our nation's broken immigration system by passing hateful, shortsighted resolutions have succeeded only in creating division, distrust and ill feelings among members of their communities,' he said.

John T. Stirrup Jr., is the Prince William Board of County Supervisors member who proposed the resolution to curb services and authorize police to check immigration status of residents there.

He said it is prudent for localities to act now.

"It's wise to do so," Stirrup said, "because of the migratory nature of the problem."

Already, Stirrup said, he has seen evidence of illegal immigrants leaving Prince William, bound for new homes elsewhere.

Of the 21 localities, the town of Culpeper is not included. It denied the county's invitation to join the coalition.

Town Councilman Steve Jenkins, who has pushed for illegal immigration reform since his election and offered to be the town's representative if it wanted to join, does not plan to attend the coalition meeting because it will mostly discuss administrative issues.

Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Kiran Krishnamurthy contributed to this report.
Liz Mitchell can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or

Localities sending representatives to today's meeting

Amherst County
Bath County
Chesapeake County
Clarke County
Dinwiddie County
Henry County
Town of Herndon
Town of Independence
King and Queen County
Lee County
New Kent County
Town of New Market
Northumberland County
Prince William County
Town of Quantico
Rappahannock County
Shenandoah County
Southampton County
Spotsylvania County
Town of Stanley
City of Winchester