Posted on 10/10/2007 9:40:51 PM PDT by freespirited
Latinos in northern Virginia filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Prince William County in an attempt to halt the implementation of a resolution that aims to deny a wide range of public services to illegal immigrants.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., and argues that enforcement of the measure passed by county lawmakers in July will subject immigrants in the United States legally to unnecessary government intrusion and will violate their right to equal protection under the law. The lawsuit says the measure violates the U.S. Constitution and federal and state laws.
The resolution allows local police to check the residency status of individuals they encounter, authorizes county employees to collect immigration data on people who seek public benefits and seeks to deny public services including housing assistance, drug rehab for jail inmates and senior programs, to illegal immigrants.
"This ordinance, which expresses the worst instincts of a few in the county, is destroying the basic fabric of community life," said Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The group filed the lawsuit with the Washington law firm Howrey LLP and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. It was filed on behalf of 21 plaintiffs ranging from U.S. citizens to undocumented residents and others with transitional status. The Woodbridge Workers Committee, which is considered by day laborers in the county as their official representative, is the 22nd plaintiff.
"Nowhere in the country have the courts upheld the right of counties to do what Prince William County is trying to do," Perales said.
Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said he believed the resolution would hold up in court.
"We carefully drafted the resolution and its implementation in anticipation of lawsuits and we are confident that it will withstand this and any other legal challenge that might arise," he said.
The resolution has placed Prince William County at the center of a debate on how to handle the region's growing immigrant population. Gov. Tim Kaine and other officials have criticized Congress for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration, which has prompted local jurisdictions to take the matter into their own hands.
Earlier this month, Prince William supervisors unanimously approved the new police department policy. But they held off on authorizing an extra $2.5 million a year needed to implement it. A final vote on the service restrictions and allocation of funding is planned for Oct. 16.
Perales expressed his concerns about how the measure has already seeped into many areas of everyday life: the concern about racial profiling by police when they choose whose residency status to check, the fear in the community of families being torn apart, and the detriment to legal residents, the county's economy, and the divisiveness he believes it will cause between neighbors. He worried that children would grow to mistrust police if they perceived them as officials who could deport their parents.
"This is a horrible thing," Perales said. "This is a most un-American thing that has been perpetrated by the board of supervisors."
Actually, it's the most pro-American thing we've seen in a very long time.
Amen!!
“(the) enforcement of the measure passed by county lawmakers in July will subject immigrants in the United States legally to unnecessary government intrusion and will violate their right to equal protection under the law.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Nope, I’m here legally and have never been subjected “to unnecessary government intrusion” My “(my) right to equal protection under the law” has not been violated, and I doubt if any of these things will happen to me or any other REAL immigrant...
but thanks for your concern..however all that energy and worry could be put to better use...help your illegal alien friends go back home...then nobody would be in danger of violation etc..
“The lawsuit says the measure violates the U.S. Constitution and federal and state laws.”
Gee, I hope the SCOTUS gets to look at this case...
Exactly; and these illegals can go right back home and do something about their own country; that is, if they are man enough and not sniveling cowards they appear to be.
It seems to me that if you are an illegal alien, you are a fugitive from justice. If you are a fugitive from justice how can you demand equal protection under the law? Or, are the laws of this country merely guidelines to be used by the Marxists to further their goals as they see fit?
They think they are cooling the situation down, when little do they know, rather they are arranging all the elements that will eventually coalasce with a massive explosion of American irateness right in their faces, when the grassroots steps up and says NO! to the Administration, NO! to Congress, NO! to do nothing local government, and most of all NO! to unelected tyrants in black robes ruining our Republic
The backlash is really coming, I hear more and more about it from friends in the trenches back in the states. It is more than a subtle whisper at this point.
So, let me get this straight...they want the law to protect their breaking of the laws?
Sorry, Pedro. The people have spoken, loudly, in this case. Sue at your own risk.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, the cops can do that.
Under section 642(a) of IIRIRA, a “Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”
And Section 505 of the IIRIRA mandates that illegals "shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident."
Have either of those sections been overturned?
ping
“So, let me get this straight...they want the law to protect their breaking of the laws?”
Pretty sick!
“The backlash is really coming, I hear more and more about it from friends in the trenches back in the states. It is more than a subtle whisper at this point.”
Since illegals are now infesting almost every state in America, the people have finally woken up. Too bad it took a full scale invasion to do it. We Californians have been trying to warn the rest of the country for years, but they didn’t listen in time.
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