The Manassas City Council is set to consider adopting a new crackdown Monday night that would allow police to deport illegal immigrants arrested or cited for local crimes.

The city has been pursuing a federal partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since July, but council members said the plan’s approval could hinge on its affordability in what is a devastating budget year.

The vote will come shortly after City Manager Lawrence Hughes introduces a budget proposal designed to compensate for a dramatic 20 percent erosion in property values over the last year.

“The council is going to have to look at it and decide how much of a priority it is,” City Council Member Andy Harrover said, noting he supports the concept.

This story continues below
Advertisement

“I think the city’s been moving forward,” Vice Mayor Hal Parrish said. “These are people who have gotten themselves into trouble in the first place and in addition, are illegal immigrants.”

But Parrish said the program will be expensive, including hiring and training new police officers, in what is an absolutely dismal budget year.

The home market’s collapse has hurt Manassas worse than many other Northern Virginia communities, and property values key to local revenue have tumbled about 20 percent since last year.

The financial crisis in neighboring Prince William County, where residential property values fell 16 percent, has put its financing next year in jeopardy.

“We need to do it. It’s not optional,” Councilman Marc Aveni said. “It gives us the maximum amount of flexibility to get criminal illegals out of Manassas City.”

A program at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center to check the illegal immigration status of inmates has turned over more than 400 inmates for deportation proceedings since July.

But immigrant advocates say the federal government is pushing off its responsibility to local governments which are ill-equipped for the work.

“It’s almost a certain recipe for racial profiling and for tearing the community apart,” said John Steinbach, a coordinator with Mexicans without Borders. “These local jurisdictions are spending enormous amounts of money enforcing minor offenses of immigration law.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com