In the wake of controversial illegal-immigration-centered legislation in Prince William and Loudoun counties, two regional government leaders today will take part in a panel discussion that largely challenges local jurisdictions’ expanding roles in immigration reform.

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada will be two of the participants in the Center for American Progress-sponsored event.

Each leader so far has voiced adamant opposition to the more restrictive immigrant rulings passed in Prince William and Loudoun, which is what they’ll explain during the discussion.

Also on the panel are Witold Walcak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and co-lead counsel in a precedent-setting case challenging an anti-illegal ordinance, and Kica Matos, deputy mayor in New Haven, Conn., which voted to give all immigrants greater access to banks via identification cards.

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Moderating will be Dan Restrepo, director of the Americas Project at the center, which explores the United States’ relationship with other nations in the Americas.

Vanessa Cardenas, director of the Center for American Progress’ ethnic media center, said the event is not intended to be a neutral debate.

Rather, all of the participants tend to share the belief that blocking local services to illegal immigrants is overstepping jurisdictions’ powers.

“We want to give ideas as to how we can block these ordinances and ways to use these ordinances in a positive way,” she said. “This is a federal issue; having different ordinances in different cities doesn’t help.”

As such, she said representatives from Loudoun and Prince William weren’t invited.

But, due to the high level of public interest in attending, there’s a strong possibility that the center could host a similarly themed panel featuring the opposing viewpoint, she said.

Patrick Lacefield, a spokesman for Leggett, said Montgomery’s top official will use his time at the event to speak on the controversial day labor centers for immigrants funded by the county.

Tejada, like Leggett, has told The Examiner that he has no intention of changing Arlington’s law to become closer to his Virginia neighbors’.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com