Dan Genz, The Examiner
2008-06-10 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Prince William County’s crackdown against illegal immigration will receive a taste of international attention today, as a United Nations official charged with monitoring human rights of migrants visits the community.

Jorge Bustamante, the U.N. special rapporteur for migrants, is set to examine the county’s crackdown, designed to result in deportations of illegal immigrants who break county and state laws.

Local immigrant advocates invited Bustamante to inspect what they describe as a “human rights struggle,” while critics of illegal immigration have hammered the visit as unwarranted and ill-conceived.

Bustamante is set to meet with Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart on Wednesday morning following meetings with immigrant groups today.

“We’re certainly not violating any human rights, and I’ll be happy to explain to him exactly what the county is doing,” Stewart said. “The county’s got nothing to hide. We’re simply enforcing the law and treating everybody with respect.”

However, he accused Bustamante of trying to “embarrass” the United States with his criticism of immigration laws.

Stewart invited illegal-immigration critics U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and the mayor of Hazleton, Pa., Lou Barletta, to the session, but they could not attend.

Bustamante, a Notre Dame University sociology professor, has sharply criticized U.S. policies that spur more deportations of illegal immigrants and decries their impact of separating families and impeding the pursuit of employment.

Immigrants in Woodbridge and Manassas are pleased he is looking into the situation, said Nancy Lyall, a coordinator for the group Mexicans Without Borders.

“His role is to ensure that migrants are protected, and if he is hearing reports that there are areas in this country where they are not, it is his responsibility to investigate,” Lyall said.

The United Nations has 38 special rapporteurs, who are tasked with investigating issues including religious liberty, racism and anti-terrorism measures, said Steven Groves, a fellow with the Heritage Foundation. While the U.N. special rapporteurs can investigate any nation, they frequent the United States “because we let them in,” Groves said.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com