Anti-BVBL

In Chief Deane’s immigration resolution status report, after six months of madness in the county, the infamous and costly “crackdown on illegal immigration” has netted 626 arrests and summons of undocumented immigrants, 1.6% of all summons and arrests in the county. This 1.6% comes with the price of 11.3 million dollars. And out of 626, only 341 arrests were made and a handful proved to be legal residents mistakenly detained. See Washington Post Article.

The rabid supporters of the “crackdown” will no doubt say that that price tag is worth it to arrest 341 “illegals.” We can argue about the value of that ad nauseum, but there is a very serious logistical problem that is the real story in the report. It’s not reported in Kristen’s article and I’m sure Corey would like to gloss over this, but Marty pounced on it during session.

Corporal Pete Meletis reports that he has no idea what happens to those detainees who are released to ICE. There is no tracking done. Even ICE doesn’t know. The detainees are sent to various detentions centers and no one knows what happens to them. In fact, Pete Meletis said that they have discovered that in examining the results of the 287(g) Program between July 2007 - August 2008, out of 907 detainers released to ICE, 48 were not only back in the county but rearrested. 48 out of 907 were rearrested in the county! Is ICE just turning around and releasing everyone? It sure looks that way to me.

Here is the reality. There is a terrible cycle to detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants and we only have control over one half of that cycle. No matter how much money we spend, how well crafted it is, if we are blind to what is happening to the other half of the cycle, it’s a pointless exercise. We are baking one half of a pie totally blind to how the other half of the pie is being baked. Unless there is divine intervention, we’re going to end up with a really bad pie.

Until the other half of the cycle is fixed and transparent, we are just wasting money, time and resources. We are pouring our money into a bottomless pit. We must face reality, ICE and federal immigration laws have to get fixed, otherwise it is wasteful and counter productive to do anything at the local level.

“Cracking down” at the local level achieved NOTHING to resolve the immigration crisis. It only achieved one thing: create a social climate in which residents are divided and Hispanics and other minorities feel unwelcome. All for the bargain price of 11.3 million dollars that tax payers have to pay in exchange for a weakened economy, an overburdened police force, and a reputation for intolerance.

We have prioritized this useless crackdown over our seniors and children. This is just bad government and it must stop. We just can’t continue down this road.

Unfortunately, the county’s strategic planning task force will be full of politically motivated appointments by John Stirrup and Corey Stewart that includes Robert “foreign invasion” Duecaster and other faces from the county anti-immigrant lobby. There is no end in sight to this policy misguidance. Citizens must step up and regain control of our government, now infiltrated by the nativist hate group.

There is so much more in the report that we must analyze. We’ll continue to analyze and post another thread shortly.

My friend just came over with a pretty dreadful story. One of her employees called today to say he would be late for work. Let’s call him Joe, although this is not his real name.

No problem. Joe is one of her most reliable employees. He works 2 jobs and drives an older car. He was coming in to Manassas from the Fair Oaks area and was in the process of getting a ticket for going 7 miles over the speed limit.

As the Fairfax County officer walked away from the car, after giving him the ticket, he uttered the words, “Learn the rules of the road, Spic.”
This employee is Italian! His last name ends in ‘O’

Joe came into work in Manassas late, speechless, and in shock. He said he had never had anything like this happen to him.

Fairfax County needs to do better. This would never happen in Prince William County. Our officers are far more professional than this Fairfax officer. This is, however, what happens when certain groups are so vilified and demonized that people begin to think behavior of this nature is acceptable. This incident appears to have gone beyond racial profiling.

This Op-Ed in the NY Times, hits the nail on the head. We owe it to our law enforcement officers to come up with a workable federal immigration policy that does not force police departments to succumb to political pressures to ‘reduce immigration by using racial profiling and harassment’.

Without a national immigration policy, a new culture of lawlessness will increasingly permeate our society. In cities, politicians will pressure police departments to reduce immigration by using racial profiling and harassment. At the same time, immigrants who fear that the police will help deport them will rely less on their local officers and instead give thugs control of their neighborhoods.

Many top law enforcement officials were part of the community policing revolution of the 1980s and ’90s. We have a deep concern for constitutional rights and social justice. We believe that effective policing requires residents, regardless of immigration status, to trust the police.

We are also students of the mistakes of our predecessors. Past police practices helped lead to the civil unrest of the 1960s, which tore our nation apart along racial and political lines. We do not want to repeat those mistakes.

…

America’s police officers deserve thoughtful federal leadership so that we can continue doing our best to provide our country with the security that defines a civilized society.

Haven’t we all heard this before, we are not “real Americans” for daring to say we will not join the mob scene in its fevered hate for Hispanics? How many times have we been called “illegal alien apolotists” ? Does this sound familiar, being called “parasite” who should be “tried for treason”. For those of you believe that violent language will not eventually lead to action, pay close attention. There is an extremist side that is being fueled by ignorance, and at some point, I firmly believe, violence will erupt.

The three telephone calls May 18, however, were more explicitly threatening, CASA officials said.

One was left in a voice mail to Bautista on a Washington number he uses for his work as the Latino missioner of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. “Don’t be surprised when there’s a [expletive] bullet in the back of your [expletive] brain,” the caller said, according to a recording made available by CASA staffers.

Another call that day was left as a message on CASA’s 800 number. Six of the 19 words were curse words, with the caller saying CASA should not be surprised if somebody blows up one of the group’s facilities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202754.html

What’s happened today?

• Filmmakers Annabel Park & Eric Byler debut on Wolf Blitzer and have CNN article.
• The County has now posted the newly modified resolution.
• BVBL continues the pursuit on Chief Deane complete with an online smack-down that has now spilled over to Virginia Virtucon.  This tactic previously backfired and reminds me of the saying -  ’insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result.’ 
• Thousands gather in cities around the Country.  Hopefully we’ll have some pictures of the event in D.C.

ABC News 7 Report concerning the changes made to the ‘Immigration Resolution’ which will now check status of only those arrested and do away with the ‘probable cause’ part of the resolution.

The modification of the “Probable Cause” portion of the Immigration Resolution is good for Prince William County. A unanimous vote last night by the Board of Supervisors means that law enforcement here is no longer fundamentally unfair.

PWC Police Officers will no longer be required to check documentation status for minor traffic stops. Therefore equal protection under the law has been restored to citizens and legal residents who fit “probable cause” indicators such as language proficiency.

Police Officers are no longer in needless danger of being accused of racial profiling. Like most other counties in the United States, we will again check legal status only after arrest. Furthermore, legal status will be questioned for ANYONE who is arrested, thus dispelling the appearance of prejudice.

It is a great relief not to have to worry about a nightmare scenario where one of Prince William County’s Finest finds him or herself dragged into court, forced to explain that, “It wasn’t because of her skin color that I arrested a legal citizen who forgot her drivers’ license, it was the way she pronounced the letter ‘L.’”

High praise for Frank Principi and Martin Nohe for working together to outmaneuver Corey Stewart and John Stirrup. High praise for John Jenkins for bringing to bear on this contentious debate his years of experience working out the details of budgets and negotiations in the best interest of the county. High praise for Maureen Caddigan and Mike May. I’m sure it took long hours of soul-searching and ultimately, personal courage for these moderate Republicans to go against their conservative colleagues, Stewart and Stirrup. This progress would not have been possible without moderate Republicans and Democrats working across party lines for the common good. Thank goodness Wally Covington came around to join the moderates and abandon extreme partisan ideology. I will sleep tonight knowing that Corey Stewart and John Stirrup’s last stand has ended.

Thank you to everyone who spoke out on this issue, whether for or against the Resolution, whether for or against the change that was made tonight. I actually had some friendly conversations with people who supported the Resolution. Overall, the mood was much more civil, even neighborly, than the spectacle in October. I saw glimmers of the community that we once were before we became so divided. I get the feeling that many people, including some HSM members, would like to stop fighting and move on.

Some questions remain.

1) Will this change be enough to help Prince William County avert economic consequences of the Immigration Resolution that have already begun to set in?

2) Will immigrant communities, both documented and undocumented, and the net economic benefit they bring with them return to our county?

3) Will the reputation of Prince William County be restored, allowing us to successfully compete with other counties in the DC Metro area for new businesses and new investment?

Only time will tell. But this is an encouraging and significant step.

Our very own Elena is quoted in this article in the Washington Post which captures the sinking spirits of the PWC business community:

County business leaders have created “image committees” to examine the direction Prince William is heading. Now, some analysts said, the economic downturn makes it a bad time to carry out the immigration measures.

“It undermines the image of the county as a good place to invest,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. “The political environment has made people feel unwelcome.”

Richard L. Hendershot, who chairs the Prince William County Greater Manassas Chamber of Commerce, said it has been hard to sell Prince William as progressive, dynamic and thriving.

“There’s been a challenge. The only way that we can counteract the image, and I’d say it is a false image, is to continue to look for opportunities to share the positive messages of the county,” he said. “There’s clearly been some controversy over the immigration stance that the board of supervisors has taken.”

Many blame Stewart (R), who put the county on the map nationally for its tough approach on illegal immigration. As the top elected official, Stewart is the most visible face of the county and nominally its biggest cheerleader. But his colleagues and some residents are starting to question his leadership.

Allegations have been leveled that we are just a bunch of complaining women. So, here we have Citizens’ Time comments from those blessed with a y chromosome.

Here’s the proof gentleman -

Obviously, if this is the case, we are in over our heads and should rescind the resolution immediately.

From bvbl.net -

UPDATE: I’m hearing that the U.S. State Department has contacted county officials today in order to find out what’s been going on. Now that the federal government has taken an interest in what has transpired, I imagine answers are going to be coming pretty quickly, although the citizens may not be able to hear what those answers actually were if the information is deemed to relate to matters of national security.

Again, what about Chairman Stewart meeting with the German delegation and their discussion of the resolution?  Back in November it was reported both in the Washington Times and the DC Examiner that Supervisor Stirrup and Stewart had what was described as a ‘debate’ with four German lawmakers which apparently was their sole purpose for meeting with them.