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Manassas Park council mulls illegal immigration crackdown
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Ricardo Juarez, left, coordinator for Mexicanos sin Fronteras, joins Caravana de la Solidaridad Imigrante, for a bus ride/caravan to Falls Church to raise concerns about the plight of illegal aliens.
Manassas (Map, News) - The Manassas Park City Council vowed this week to consider new crackdowns on illegal residents while simultaneously issuing a withering critique of an anti-illegal immigrant activist organization.
Council members announced a plan to monitor the new Prince William County immigration resolution that would ultimately deny services to illegal immigrants and have police check the legal status of crime suspects with the goal of deporting those who should not be in the country.
If the Prince William “measures prove legal and effective,” Manassas City would consider adopting them, the council said.
To act now, however, Vice Mayor Bryan Polk wrote in his comments, would be an example of “trial-and-error lawmaking that only serves to breed confusion and discontent.”
“As we wade through feedback and community input that ranges from legitimate concerns and ideas to downright racism, we must fulfill our obligation to be fair,” he said.
Council members said illegal immigration may not be a major problem in the city and that the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Manassas is wrong in saying the city government has not done enough to confront the issue.
“This group’s false representation of the City’s position serves only to support a vigilante agenda that the city believes is irresponsible and offensive,” the council said in a statement.
The issue was raised Tuesday night in part because Manassas Park’s fast-growing Hispanic population has put the city among 300 counties or independent cities nationwide that are home to more minorities than whites, according to a U.S. Census report issued this month.
That greater diversity is valued, the all-white council said, adding, “The city believes most residents in Manassas Park are legally present and moved to this area to create a better life for their respective families.”
The comments Tuesday only reinforced the board’s reputation for failing to act sooner, said Greg Letiecq, president of Help Save Manassas, adding he strongly objected to accusations of racism.
“It is kind of hard to go and tell a constituent who is living next door to a severely overcrowded house, where there is just constant noise, that the basis of their concern is nothing more than racism,” Letiecq said.
dgenz@dcexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
And just what do you think the tax increase will do to accomplish YOUR objective...throwing money at the problem is nonsense.......go after individual problms as they come up.....and quit wasting your tax money to support the political intersts of our county statemen!!!
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Examiner Reader said:
I have never seen a tax increase that I've supported. But if that's what it takes to enforce the laws and keep the legal residents of PW County safe, then I'm all for it. PW County supervisors have had the guts to stand up in spite of political correctness....I stand with them & thank them for putting the needs of legal citizens first.
27 agree | 20 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Any American that supports illegal immigration should be ashamed of themselves, it's all well and good to do what you believe in but this country is in dangerous trouble and we have to know who is here and who needs to be gone. A crackdown has to take place all over America, why don't you start supporting YOUR country, and YOUR Fellow Americans??????????
24 agree | 27 disagree
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GAB said:
Bill, the real issue in the P.G. schools, having been there as a sub, is not the lack of teachers or facilities, but the lack of parents who care about what their kids are learning. They come into school without discipline. The Hispanic kids, unfortunately, might have two parents, but they have parents who didn't get an education themselves and don't see the value of an education. They won't support the schools, even if the schools are making the kids more "American" in their values. I put that in quotes because some of those values are flashy clothes and trashy music, albeit in English.
104 agree | 106 disagree
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Bill said:
We in Prince Georges County MD. Just can't wait until they overwhelm us. We joyously look forward to having to our children, already being saddled with ebonics, being made to take English as a Third Language (ETL).
91 agree | 104 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
As I read this article, I can almost hear the flies buzzing around the heads of these Manassas Council members!
93 agree | 110 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Manassas and Prince Williams are cutting cost serving illegal immigrants. We have no choice but to move to Fairfax and to Maryland where we could set up illegal immigrants colonies . We will bring exciting news stories such as MS-13 , cocaine distribution stops with us to our new home . Thank you very much Sir Connolly of fairfax, Gov O Malley and Sir Leggett of Montgomery for your support to tax your voters to provide care for us. Especially MD set up CASA to provide us illegal ID cards to justify our driver licence, jobs and identities without the need for legal immigration paper work. Thank you MD, you have gone to the extreme to break your own federal laws to justify our ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT status in your state. For these great gentlemen, we are moving into your states and counties, please don't forget to increase tax ( property and income ) on your supporters to support US.
106 agree | 102 disagree
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