Impact of Prince William policy unclear
By Layla Wilder
While a crackdown on illegal immigration in Prince William County has been seemingly effective there, some say surrounding jurisdictions may be taking the impact.“We have anecdotal information that illegal aliens are leaving Prince William County primarily for Fairfax, Montgomery and Arlington counties,” said Greg Letiecq, a Manassas resident involved with anti-illegal immigration groups Save the Old Dominion and Help Save Manassas.
But while Fairfax County officials acknowledge changes in the county's immigrant population, they deny that they are definitely linked with Prince William crackdowns.
“It's too early to tell,” said Michael Frey (R) a Fairfax County Supervisor representing the Sully District. “That fact is that departures from Prince William are anecdotal.”
David Ellis, who works in the county's Department of Systems Management for Human Service, said there is no evidence illegal immigrants are fleeing Prince William County for Fairfax County.
People of all races move back and forth from Prince William and Fairfax counties all the time, said Ellis, who has worked with illegal immigration issues for several years. “It's kind of hard to put a cause and effect on it all,” he said.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted last fall to allow police officers to check immigration status of people they suspect may be in the country illegally, a controversial move that has attracted national attention.
Months later, a board member of the Virginia Department of Education asked public school systems throughout Northern Virginia to report how many English for Speakers of Other Languages students transfered from Prince William County during this school year. Together, Northern Virginia schools reported a net increase of about 1,200 ESOL transfers from Prince William at the end of March, Julie Grimes, a spokesperson for the education department, said. Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria reported an increase of 700 ESOL students from Prince William, Grimes said.
According to Paul Regnier, a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools, there were 623 ESOL students who transferred from Prince William between September and March. That's an increase of about 400 ESOL student transfers from that county in the same time frame last year.
However, there is no way to tell if the increase had anything to do with Prince William County's crack down, Regnier said.
Members of Capital Area Alliance Against Illegal Immigration – an organization of several grassroots groups – are hopeful the migration will force officials of other jurisdictions to consider stronger crackdowns, Letiecq said.
“The Prince William County plan is working, but we have to continue to push this in other areas,” said Brad Botwin, head of Help Save Maryland. Botwin said people are worried about an increase of day laborer sites in Maryland.
“We are hoping to demonstrate to others that there are significant costs associated with serving illegal immigrants,” Letiecq said.
He wondered if Fairfax board chairman Gerry Connolly (D) “will now talk about the costs of extending the welcome mat to illegal aliens.”
Because the number of ESOL students in other parts of the county have decreased, the program's projected growth should remain about the same, Teddi Predaris, director of Fairfax County's ESOL office, said.
Frey said that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, known for viewing Prince William's crackdowns as too extreme, haven't discussed any sort of policy change to deal with illegal immigrants.
“The truth is far more complex,” Frey said, adding that a lot of factors such as the economy and a decline in construction jobs in Prince William County may be affecting the immigrant population as well.
Sen. John Watkins (R-Chesterfield), chair of the state's new immigration commission, said he hasn't heard about people fleeing Prince William for other areas, but he is hearing the policies are “having an adverse affect on people's lives.”
Gov. Tim Kaine (D) formed the Virginia Commission on Immigration and tasked the group with advising lawmakers about immigration policies in response to legislation passed by the General Assembly.
Watkins said he is concerned that some of what Prince William officials have done “borders on harassment.”