Free Republic

HERNDON, Va. The northern Virginia community of Herndon has attracted a group associated with the Arizona's border-patrolling Minuteman Project. The group plans to monitor day labor activities and report illegal immigrants and their employers. But the local group's leader George Taplin says the ultimate goal is to rid the area of illegal aliens. Plans for an official hiring site for primarily Latino workers sparked a heated debate this summer in this Washington suburb. Groups working to operate the day laborer centers say they have received several calls from laborers and employers concerned about the patrols. Taplin says more than 50...

"Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies seized the materials from the home of Allan Douglas Winters of Vienna, Va. Mr. Winters, 35, teaches social studies and music at the Nysmith School in Herndon." -----snip----- "Mr. Winters asked to speak with his mother when agents asked for permission to search his computer..." -----snip----- "Some of the boys in the material were as young as toddlers, agents said. Many of the recovered images showed children -- mostly young males --..."

Herndon, Virginia-area residents concerned about illegal immigration met last night to organize a new chapter of the Minutemen, a group that gained notice across the country when its members began patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border. Organizer George Taplin said those who met at the Herndon Fort Nightly Library are opposed to the taxpayer-funded, day-laborer center that town officials want to build, and want to expose employers, landlords and others who would exploit legal immigrants and illegal aliens at the center. "This summer it came to a head," said Mr. Taplin, a retired Navy officer. "I saw what was happening in terms...

Suburban politicians once had to master a small but demanding catalog of local issues. Taxes, garbage, crime and schools were always the big ones. But recently a volatile new issue has been showing up on the local meet-the-candidate circuit, and it is pretty much the opposite of the familiar and the local. It is illegal immigration. Though municipal officials have no statutory control over immigration, a rising population of illegal immigrants in suburban communities - from Farmingville, N.Y., to Danbury, Conn.; Herndon, Va., to suburban South Salt Lake City, Utah - has prompted some of those officials to attack the...

Memo to our amigos in Central America: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has agreed to put out a $400,000 welcome mat to ease the illegal transition of your citizens in Herndon, Annandale and Culmore. In case you have not heard, some of your citizens illegally cross the border with bladder conditions and then have no choice but to relieve their discomfort after setting up shop on the grounds of private businesses. We crazy gringos never knew that our Central American friends were afflicted with so many bladder issues. But now we do, and in true American spirit, our duly...

Poll says Virginia opposes publicly funded day laborer sites WASHINGTON The issue of immigration and sites for day laborers may play a big part in the Virginia governor's race. A Washington Post poll says 56 of voters don't think that taxpayers should fund centers where day laborers can assemble to look for work. When voters were asked about centers being used by workers in the country illegally, the poll says opposition was even stronger.That view supports the one held by Republican Jerry Kilgore, who has said that he would opposed funding for the sites. Democrat Tim Kaine has said he...

HALFWAY, Md. - Ryan Brandt Young, a San Diego man and former Navy SEAL performing diplomatic security in southern Iraq, died Wednesday when a bomb destroyed his armored vehicle. Young, 32, a native of Halfway, Md., served in the U.S. Navy for more than 13 years, including stints as a Navy SEAL and SEAL instructor, said his father, Greg Young. Ryan Young was in Iraq as a security contractor for Triple Canopy Inc. of Herndon, Va. and was working with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. He was riding in the lead vehicle of a motorcade escorting someone from an airport...

A national watchdog group announced yesterday it has sued the town of Herndon over its recent vote to establish a formal center for day laborers, many of whom are illegal aliens. Judicial Watch, a D.C.-based nonprofit public interest law firm, filed the lawsuit yesterday on behalf of six town residents who they say oppose the center. In its lawsuit, the group requests a permanent injunction to stop Herndon from using taxpayer funds to operate the day laborer center. It also asks a judge to declare the site "unlawful and a violation of federal and state law" because the center will...

Although last week's approval of a managed day labor site in Herndon was the culmination of a hard-fought and controversial battle, it was just the beginning of a process. There are extensive plans for coordinating the transition to the new site, as well as eliminating the existing, informal Elden Street/Alabama Drive site and its attendant problems. At a Glance The Herndon Town Council voted 5-2 Wednesday, Aug. 17, to allow a temporary day labor hiring site situated behind the Herndon Police building at Rock Hill and Sterling roads that is being vacated this week. Mayor Michael O'Reilly along with Town...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore spoke yesterday in Chantilly to a group of Hispanic business owners from Virginia, reaffirming his opposition to taxpayer-funded day-laborer centers, which he said will support "illegal immigration."

The following is a summary of the approved version of the permit and governance plan that will control the managed day labor hiring site in Herndon. Location: On the eastern side of the old Herndon Police building, at the intersection of Sterling and Rock Hill roads. It is accessible from both roads. Features: A trailer, portable toilets, a covered shelter, a drive-through "toll booth" for contractors to register and request laborers, a food vendor, parking and bicycle racks Hours: 6 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday, closed on federal holidays Staffing: Three or...

Jerry has local talk show on KMBZ 980. Yesterday he talked at length about a story regarding those who facilitate illegal immigration via Day Labor sites: "Watchdog Puts Herndon Planning Commission on Legal Notice Over Citizens' Objections to Proposed "Day Laborer" Site" http://www.judicialwatch.org/5391.shtml 85% of the workers at this day labor site are ILLEGAL!! He started to wonder aloud about how high the percentage is here, and talked about doing some investigative reporting on local day labor sites..... He came on the air mad as hell, he recieved call from ***police officer*** "lobbying" him to STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!!

The staff at a newly approved day laborer center in Herndon will not check the immigration status of the workers who use the facility, town officials said yesterday. Herndon Mayor Michael O'Reilly, a proponent of the center, said organizers who sought the town's approval for establishing such a center told officials it was not their job to check the workers' legal status. "The applicant said it was not their job and that they didn't have the capacity to enforce federal immigration law," Mr. O'Reilly said yesterday. "It was clear they will not be checking legal documentation."

A bitter local dispute over a day-laborer site in Herndon has swept the town of 22,000 into the national spotlight, where it's become the flashpoint of the nation's deep ambivalence regarding illegal immigration. America has generally welcomed immigrants, but many Americans are angry at the federal government's complete failure to secure the borders in this post-9/11 world. They don't want to be harsh with poor, hardworking people trying to better themselves, but the trickle of illegal immigrants has become a seemingly unstoppable torrent. Project Hope and Harmony, a local social service agency, wants $170,000 in public funding to set up...

HERNDON, Va. (AP) - Just two days after a controversial vote in northern Virginia, the first big fight over hiring centers for day laborers in Fairfax County is starting. Some in neighboring Loudoun County warn they may try to prevent Herndon's plan to build a site for workers, many of whom are illegal aliens. Officials are threatening to use zoning laws to try and block the town's decision to build the site. Two Loudoun supervisors say the Herndon lawmakers ignored them in the decision. The 12-acre property where dozens of Latino workers would wait for construction jobs sits on the...

As organizers pledged to open Herndon's site for day laborers by November, angry officials in neighboring Loudoun County threatened yesterday to use zoning laws to block the town's decision to build it. Two Loudoun supervisors whose residential districts abut the hiring center -- which was approved Wednesday night by the Herndon Town Council -- accused Herndon leaders of circumventing them in a decision that they said will affect their constituents. The 12-acre property on Rock Hill Road where Latino workers will wait for construction jobs sits along the town-county border.

For Release: Thursday, August 18, 2005 Website: www.jerrykilgore.com Contact: Tim Murtaugh or Tucker Martin Phone: (804) 421-9966 E-Mail: tim@jerrykilgore.com or tucker@jerrykilgore.com Statement of Jerry Kilgore - Regarding Herndon’s Decision to Fund “Day Laborer” Site - RICHMOND – Former Attorney General and Republican nominee for Governor Jerry Kilgore today issued the following statement regarding a decision by Herndon Town Council to spend $175,000 in taxpayer funds to support a “day laborer” site in the area: “Millions of people have come to this country seeking better lives for themselves and their families. Legal immigration made this country what it is today and...

...In recent weeks, radio talk shows, cable news and Internet blogs fumed that taxpayer money would help immigrants who might be in the country illegally. They advised rounding up such immigrants instead. Some supporters of the site countered with accusations of racism. But at its core, the debate reflected the struggle in Herndon and other Washington suburbs to integrate a steady flow of new immigrants -- those here legally and illegally. "This has been a horrendously difficult issue," Mayor Michael O'Reilly said. He said every worker has a constitutional right to "stand on a street corner whether they have documents...

HERNDON, Va. (AP) - The Herndon Town Council is expected to vote tonight on whether to approve a day labor site. The vote was originally scheduled to take place last night but so many people signed up to speak out about it that it had to be pushed back until today. At issue is whether the town should spend $170,000 to build a center for the day laborers to wait for work. Currently, about 150 laborers gather daily outside a downtown Herndon convenience store. Supporters of the site say it would provide a safe gathering place for people who are...

Concerns about property values, illegal immigration and human rights collided last night in Herndon as passionate advocates for and against a tax-supported site for day laborers lined up in an effort to sway the Town Council. Nearly 150 people who had signed up to speak crowded into the town's small municipal building for the fourth night of public hearings this summer, as the council considered how to resolve problems created by scores of immigrants congregating outside a 7-Eleven to seek construction work.