Senate panel kills House-approved bills targeting illegal immigration

[Derechos]

A Democratic-led Senate subcommittee on Wednesday made short work of Republican bills sent over from the GOP-led House to crack down on illegal immigration, including a measure that would have applied Prince William County's strategy to the whole state.

HB1421 - the so-called anti-sanctuary bill sponsored by Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax)?

Dead.

HB1465 -- a bill from Del. Christopher Peace (R-Hanover) that would require colleges and universities to adopt written policies prohibiting the enrollment of illegal aliens?

Dead.

HB2332 -- Del. Scott Lingamfelter's proposal modeled on Prince William County that would require police to ascertain the immigration status of anyone arrested?

Dead.

Hurrying because the full Senate was to convene late in the day -- and perhaps because the outcome was all but pre-ordained -- Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw pestered the subcommittee chairman, Sen. John S. Edwards, to move things along. And Edwards (D-Roanoke) did, sometimes giving witnesses less than a minute to speak or no time at all.

Then Saslaw would make a motion to kill the bill, Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) would second, and the Democrats, joined by Sen. Henry Marsh, would inevitably swamp Sen. Frederick M. Quayle, (R-Chesapeake), who several times cast the lone vote for Republicans.

"No one who pays attention to these things at all is surprised," said Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), whose closely watched bill designed to tally immigrant schoolchildren also died. "The Democrats threw in with the open-borders crowd a long time ago, so they're just being consistent."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2011/02/senate_panel_kills_house-appro.html

[Left_Is_Right]

1. the unfortunate consequences of playing hard ball politics...

Not having read the bills, I can't comment on the validity of them or how effective they would be in my opinion.
That being said, on face value from your post the (r) bills don't seem too bad. It would depend of course on how they are administered. I for one WANT enforcement of deportation of illegals. We have enough problems with nut job citizens as it is without adding to the mess with illegals. I think no school should be allowed to enroll the undocumented. I think no gov program should extend to the undocumented unless it is a program of immigration enforcement.

I believe the (d) response to these bills were a hard ball response to all the no votes of the rethuglicans. Quite frankly, while some may view this as ill spirited, I welcome the response. What goes around comes around.

[Derechos]

2. The Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations

has pulished a Cross-over Legislative Report that describes the proposed legislation in further detail as well as outlines problems with them. You can find the report here http://www.vacolao.org/VACOLAO_CROSSOVER_REPORT_2.8.11%5b1%5d.pdf.

The bills target children's access to education, and yes even undocumented students who had no contol over current situation, many of whom came to the U.S. as infants, and could lead to biased policing that will impact not just undocumented immigrants, but all those who police "believe" could be in the country without proper immigration status. Reports from activists in Richmond suggest that House Republicans knew the bills would die in the Senate but wanted to send a message of discomfort with the demografic changes currently taking place in the state. I do not support this kind of message and will always push for policies that welcome and respect all of Virginia's residents.

[Left_Is_Right]

3. I too welcome residents to VA

Thank you for the link.

Yes, I too welcome people who would like to reside in VA. Although, I can't for the life of me figure out who would want to live in a state with the likes of cantor or the current gov at the wheel and/or the prospect of mecacca man george the racist allen running again.

That being said, I do NOT welcome illegals, and I don't care if they're from mexico, germany, or the moon. They are a drain on our economy and a possible threat to our nations security. Why should anyone think that the US is not a sovereign country with immigration laws that can just be ignored? I'm the son of an immigrant. My father came to this country LEGALLY. I expect anyone living/residing in this country to either be documented or deported. It's not rocket science. Either be here legally or be deported just as you would be in ANY other country. This is not about racism, or racial profiling. This is about the security of a sovereign nation. And to your point about children coming to the US as infants. That would not have been possible if we enforced the immigration laws already on the books. Children are not an excuse for breaking the law.

Lefty

[Derechos]

4. Immigrants are a boon to the local economy....

From the Immigration Policy Center of Virginia

Unauthorized immigrants contribute to Virginia’s economy.

■Unauthorized immigrants in Virginia paid between $260 million and $311 million in taxes in 2007, including:
■$145 million to $174 million in state income, excise, and property taxes
■$93 million to $111 million in Social Security taxes
■$22 million to $26 million in Medicare taxes
■In addition, Virginia employers paid between $119 million and $142 million in taxes on behalf of unauthorized workers in 2007, including:
■$93 million to $111 million in Social Security taxes
■$22 million to $26 million in Medicare taxes
■$4 million to $5 million in state unemployment insurance taxes
■The state’s unauthorized population, which earned between $2.6 billion and $3.1 billion in 2007, even after accounting for remittances sent back to their home countries, uses their income to purchase Virginia’s goods and services.
Immigrants are essential to Virginia’s economy as workers.

■Immigrants comprised 13.3% of the state’s workforce (or 560,300 workers) in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
■If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Virginia, the state would lose $11.2 billion in economic activity, $5.5 billion in gross state product, and approximately 62,918 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/new-americans-old-dominion-state

Immigrants commit less crimes than native born citizens.

"Reuters) - Immigrants are far less likely than the average U.S.-born citizen to commit crime in California, the most populous state in the United States, according to a report issued late on Monday.

People born outside the United States make up about 35 percent of California's adult population but account for about 17 percent of the adult prison population, the report by the Public Policy Institute of California showed.

According to the report's authors the findings suggest that long-standing fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are unjustified. The report also noted that U.S.-born adult men are incarcerated at a rate more than 2 1/2 times greater than that of foreign-born men.

"Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher educational levels to obtain visas, or spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little impact on public safety," said Kristin Butcher, co-author of the report and associate professor of economics at Wellesley College."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/26/us-usa-immigration-crime-idUSN246261520080226

[Left_Is_Right]

5. your point is moot.

The bottom line is it's ill gotten gain. money generated from illegal resources. Additionally, I believe the numbers are dubious and are probably based on some big assumptions. First of all, the study sites unauthorized immigrants. How do they actually know? If the immigrants are unauthorized....that probably also means they're undocumented. If they're undocumented, there is NO WAY to track what they make, or what taxes they pay. IMO, the study is conjecture. Again, it points to income that is ill gotten gain from law breakers. Additionally, as reported on several NOVA shows, the rise of murder for hire teams slipping thru the borders is giving law enforcement more than they can handle. They blame it on our inability to protect our borders.

Here's the bottom line...if these people want to be here, want to earn a living in America, they MUST abide by the laws of the land. No other country would allow it. They have migrant workers in Germany from all over the world. But they are DOCUMENTED, and the ones that aren't are immediately taken into custody and deported. It's the law.

Lefty

[Derechos]

7. Your black and white arguments about immigration

are exhausting. You allow absolutely no room with your arguments for the important role immigrant labor played in the development of Northern Virginia for most of the past decade. According to Delagate Ebbin in 2006, "Immigrants contribute to our economy in Virginia and across this country—and without hardworking immigrants, there would be no building boom in Northern Virginia, no labor for harvesting crops, and no service workers for restaurants."

In Fact during the eary years of the 2000s, Northern Virginia held some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and needed workers as the region rapidly developed. Who helped build those homes, businesses, roads, etc? Immigrants.

While the need for workers helped create the pull factors that brought many immigrant workers to the U.S., our foreign trade polices helped create the push factors.

"The North American Free Trade Act of 1994 -- NAFTA -- pushed Mexicans straight out of their own fields and factories and into the U.S., contributing to declining standards of living and income inequality on both sides of the border. Cheap corn from U.S. agribusiness drove domestic Mexican farmers out of a livelihood, and into cities where there were also no jobs. Foreign factories clustered at the U.S. border, but overall manufacturing in Mexico plummeted.

Among many, many sources explaining exactly this, a NY Times article on February 18, 2007, by Louis Uchitelle cites Gary Hufbauer, "a senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington who campaigned for NAFTA in the early 1990s." Commenting on its failures to create one job in either Mexico or the U.S., Hufbauer expounded: "It just did not happen."

Learning our lesson, the U.S. went on to promulgate similar "neutron bomb" agreements in Central America and elsewhere (the foreign corporations were left standing but the human standards of living were annihilated)." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-r-shaffer/immigration-is-a-nafta-pr_b_642484.html

I agree that undocumented immigration is a problem. It leaves thousands of people vulnerable to abuses by employers, vulnerable to crime, and as recently witnessed by the devistating result of the Dream Act vote in Congress, leaves thousands of young people who came to this country through no fault of their own fearful of an uncertain future. We need real solutions to this issue, but solutions that take into account the humanity of all those involved.

[dem3550]

6. +100