United Nations human rights official Jorge Bustamante canceled his visit to Prince William County late Monday on the eve of his investigation into the community’s new enforcement of illegal-immigration laws.

Bustamante, U.N. officials and immigrant advocates who coordinated his trip would not say why it was abruptly abandoned, but both critics and supporters of the county’s policy speculated the United Nations balked at the attention the visit generated.

“Something unexpected of extreme gravity came up, totally outside of my control, that has made it impossible for me to take the red-eye flight that was already reserved from San Diego to Washington,” Bustamante wrote in a letter to immigrant group leader Ricardo Juarez, a coordinator of Mexicans without Borders.

Immigrant leaders had reached out to Bustamante, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights of migrants, in April, asking him to check into a new county law requiring officers to check the legal status of people arrested for minor crimes.

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Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Virginia, was outraged about the planned visit to the point of threatening to cut United Nations funding. He said the U.N. was too slow to investigate human atrocities in Sudan and first needed to investigate its own human rights record.

“Do not send somebody from the United Nations here,” said Wolf, promising to remember the episode when the organization’s funding next comes before his House Appropriations Committee.

The reason he delayed the trip was “confidential,” Bustamante told The Examiner on Tuesday, adding he hopes to come at a later date. Asked if anyone at the United Nations told him not to come, he said, “I cannot tell you.”

Four immigrant advocates who know why Bustamante stayed home said they accepted his reasons and would not divulge them.

The reason was the criticism, speculated illegal-immigration opponent Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies who said the visit was overstepping Bustamante’s authority and a “nightmare for the United Nations.”

Vocal Woodbridge resident and crackdown critic Carlos Labiosa agreed, saying critics of the visit urged Bustamante’s superiors to block the inspection.

“What are they so afraid that they don’t want anyone to come?” said Labiosa, vice chairman of the county’s human rights commission. “ I get the feeling they don’t want anyone from the United Nations to find out what’s going on.”

County Chairman Corey Stewart said the county is merely enforcing the nation’s law, adding Bustamante’s visit threatened to become an international embarrassment for the United Nations.

Immigrant leaders held two of the events planned for Bustamante, despite his absence, said John Steinbach, a coordinator for Mexicans Without Borders.  They videotaped public testimony at a Manassas restaurant and a Woodbridge billiard hall to mail to him in San Diego.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com