The Washington Post reports the Virginia Panel on Immigration, created by Govenor Kaine, has come to realize that immigration is an issue that must be dealt with by the Federal Government.
RICHMOND — Virginia, known for some of the nation’s toughest policies on illegal immigration, appears to be abandoning its hard-line approach as state officials consider proposals to help foreign-born residents assimilate, including increasing the number of English classes.
In the coming weeks, the Virginia Commission on Immigration will send Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) two dozen recommendations, most of which would help immigrants instead of penalizing them.
During the General Assembly’s session this year, the number of immigration bills introduced was the highest in recent years, but most measures died. State and local governments found that they could do little to resolve the issue.
“This is really a federal issue,” Watkins said. “They have . . . pushed it down toward the states, and the time has come for them to deal with it. We have no jurisdiction.”
What was especially interesting is the realization that as a “wedge issue”, illegal immigration was a losing issue. As has been pointed out several times on antibvbl, 20 respresentatives from the “immigration caucus” lost their seats in this election.
Creedon said commission members recognized that in the past some immigration proposals were raised for “political purposes” and could not be enforced. “They wanted credit for taking a tough position, but you knew they wouldn’t be implemented,” he said.
Those on both sides of the issue say interest in immigration has waned because of the growing economic crisis, a clearer understanding of the state’s limitations on a largely federal issue and backlash at the voting booth.
“I think some reality set in,” said state Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Chesterfield), the group’s chairman.
Here are some of the recomendations by the committee. Imagine that, a formal committee actually created to determine, with expert advice, a reasonable path to deal with immigration issues. Reminds me of what our county LACKED when dealing with immigration.
The Immigration Commission spent more than a year writing recommendations for Kaine after public hearings that included expert testimony and comment from legislators and the Virginia Crime Commission. The proposals would have to be adopted by Kaine, the General Assembly or Congress.
The commission proposed increasing the number of English classes and creating a plan to address the needs of foreign-born residents. It also urged the federal government to compile more complete immigration statistics, increase the number of visas for foreign workers and pass comprehensive immigration legislation.
I don’t know, but went to Spingfield Mall this weekend, and was glad to finally get back to the US here. It was like traveling to 10 different countries in 2 hours. For those that want to experience what massive immigration looks like just go there. It’s a true eye opener. I left yearning for the sound of my native language for sure. On a positive note, all the signs were still in English. Cultural shock I’d say!
IN YOUR FACE, COREY STEWART AND JOHN STIRRUP!!!
Jackson Miller is on that committee. Could it be I was wrong about him? Say it IS so!
The Washington Post. Didn’t they run a story on “bat-boy” this weekend? Their story on “tree vampires” that suck the sap out of trees was particularly good! Don’t I remember Timmy Kaine hand picking illegal alien apologists for that board, so that the recommendations were determined before the work began? (I know that NEVER happens in government!)
Virginia has some of the toughest policies on illegal immigration. That right there tells any informed reader that this is a BS piece. When did this happen? “Appoint a commission” is government-speak for “do nothing”. Thank God PWC has the guts to do something when the worthless state government says the thing we expect to hear from them….”it’s not my job”.
Don’t it make your read state… don’t it make your read state… don’t it make your read state… bluu–UUU-UUU-uuu (for those of you who remember Crystal Gayle).
The Springfield Mall story (SecondAlamo, above) only made me think about my ancesters… who also didn’t speak english when tey got here. None of us have been here long enough to forget where we came from. Today, people are just coming from different places.
SA, this is not new phenomena in NoVA. It has been land of foreigners since I have lived here.
If we get more English classes, SA, you won’t have as much of this discomfort.
Donna sure isn’t taking a step back. She is winding down like the overused Energizer Bunny, On Guard! Stabbing at any poster, trying to guess their identity.
It is funny to watch such a bored, frustrated person flail around.
Bwaaaahahahahahahaha
Dakota, where is this happening? On the Dark Screen?
Where Donna and her buddies have been playing all weekend.
Ah…..I now see what you are talking about. Yeah, well……they have nothing better to do than defend Stir-it-up and his pals. Sounds like the Gen. Assembly will take care of them all shortly.
Donna, the woman who makes fun of the disabled (along with her pal Doo-doo-caster) demonstrates the absolute NOT “right thing to do.” I used to think she was qualified for the position she was appointed for. Now that I know who she is when she is posting, I say, NO WAY. She’s a loose cannon. She represents the county now for goodness sakes! She and Doo-doo….how utterly embarrassing. It’s a wonder Stir-it-up doesn’t tell them to SHUT up. They make him look worse and worse.
Who is Donna? Well, if you do take a trip over to the Dark Screen, there is a link you can click on to send an e-mail to the Gov. I did just that, but didn’t send the message GL would have liked to have been sent! Everyone should send a message to the Governor to let him know that sane people do exist in VA…even PWC…and let him know you think the commission is on the right track! They should not be swayed by the likes of people “yearn for the sound of their native language” barf!!
This is wonderful news! Sort of had to figure it would go this direction, after the election returns showed that even Prince William County went for Obama. There wasn’t any electoral benefit in destroying PWC, other than assuring that an ineffective but famous Chairman kept his post for four more painful years. What else has immigration politics brought the Republicans in Virginia? Nothing good. Nothing good. Not for them, not for us. Not for anyone. Of course they’d give up the ghost.
Thank you Jackson Miller. I had written you off, but this will help a lot toward regaining my respect.
TWINDAD, will you post the write to the Governor link here please? Many of us prefer not to go to the censored fake conversation of hate.
whoa! The velvets are pushing the envelop over there on the dark screen. Something has made them bold. They are talking about old women being disturbed by hispanics, not illegals. Someone else has suggested shooting them and putting them 6 feet under.
All ‘I’m not a racist’ bets are off on this one. They apparently no longer give a rat’s ass.
maybe they want to increase their readership. They sure aren’t hiding there feelings.
Shelly, I agree. I had written Miller off as well. This is good news. I LOVE being proven wrong in these cases.
Donna Widowski was appointed by Stirrup to serve on the long-term planning committee for neighborhood safety. I believe she has a background in law enforcement which would make her qualified (as opposed to Doo-Doo who isn’t Human enough to serve on Human Services). However, she’s an HSM affiliate (if not a member). What is she going to do to protect neighborhoods—report everyone to DHS including everyone who posts here? LOL!
Holy Codfish, Batman! The racists have gone batty! The Gen. Assembly thing must have done them in.
Call the FBI. Send them on over to the dark screen. Send Kaine over there as well.
Here’s a question.
We here are citizens. We don’t represent any particular group. We don’t represent a blog. We just post our thoughts like some on BVBL.
However, HSM is a civic organization. Doo-Doo and Donna are public officials. Stir-it-up and Stewart are obviously elected leaders.
I think it’s appropriate to say almost whatever we wish about public officials. I do NOT think it’s okay to do so about private citizens just speaking their minds. For example, unless Mando was an HSM officer or vocal member, I would never try to figure out who he is and bash him in public.
Do we, as citizens, deserve more protection in this way than our elected/public officials or is all FAIR in love and their “war”?
Pinko, I haven’t been to the stinking bathroom, but I can imagine that you are probably one of their coward targets. By coward targets I mean that they have no one else to pick on (without going to jail, I hear some of them seem bent on doing that as well). So they rail against who ever they can reach. It’s like a bully who picks on kindergartners because the 4th graders are too tough for him. I’m sorry you are one of the targets, but please know that you are greatly and widely admired for your courage. Citizens like you and Elena and Alanna will be remembered by historians as the heroes of this story, along with Chief Deane and Frank Principi. You are the ones who stood up to the madness and kept the county safe from further destruction until they tired themselves out.
What you see on BVBL right now is their last gasps. Once they drop the veil of “I”m not racist” they will lose whatever tiny hint of credibility they have left. I expect this will happen across the country during the upcoming Congressional term.
Wow, NGL, thank you for that support! That was really kind.
I really have no idea if I’m a target over there because I don’t hang out in the latrine 🙂 I DO know they’ve attacked me openly in other places as they have done Alanna and Elena and anyone else who thinks their actions are unacceptable.
I threw the question out there because it’s a tricky one I think about a lot. At what point do you become “representative” of a civic group or political entity? How do you separate your various roles? It’s kind of a philosophical question I ask myself all the time.
Here you go! I got an e-mail back from the Gov’s office, so I didn’t have to re-enter the latrine to get it! http://www.governor.virginia.gov/abouttheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm
Well, I don’t have to ask that question because I hide behind a moniker. But I think that HSM, Corey Stewart, and BVBL (and now John Stirrup too) have all shown that anyone who gets in their way will become a target, whether it’s a religious organization, or the Police Chief, or just the average citizen who has the courage to stand up and say “this ain’t right.”
Now that these hateful losers are in their “last throes if you will,” I am reminded of the man who spoke at Citizens’ Time on Oct. 16. He quoted an infamous demagogue from 60 years ago and went a little something like this:
Ordinarily people do not want war, but they can always be made to want war. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are under attack (and then he referenced Robert Duecaster) and denounce the pacifists as unpatriotic traitors.
In this story, you were one of the pacifists, Pinko. Of course you’d be denounced in every which way the hate parade could think of. It’s the prince for standing up to this type of political movement.
Here is the link if you want the exact words from the infamous war demagogue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlh3h2HFGeo
Pinko, everyone blames you for making the obvious comparison that this man made. But he was the first to say it that I know of.
Thanks TWINDAD,
I sent a letter also.
Did you notice in the newspaper article that only ONE PERCENT of Virginians consider “illegal immigration” a top issue?????
I guess Gospel Greg is trying to get each and every person in that tiny minority to write an email to the Governor. If he gets enough emails, do you think he will change his mind and ignore the bipartisan report that took a year to write?
1 percent rate immigration as a top issue???!!!!
That means the percentage went down from 3 percent before the The Blowhard, the Weasel, and the False Prophet went to work with their hate-rhetoric, lies, and demagoguery.
Nice work boys. You’ve helped to put our eyes on the prize, and ensured that PWC went to Barack Obama.
PS: I know that all three terms could go to more than one of the Triumvirate of Hate, but Greg Letiecq is obviously the False Prophet, Stirrup is the Weasel, and Stewart is the Blowhard.
Okay, I just read the whole article (I love you Elena, but I have to stop reading only your excerpts before I comment).
It’s clear if you read the whole article that the Republican guy Gilbert was being very honest in saying this wasn’t the wedge issue we hoped it would be.
That is freakin’ sad. I mean, it’s good that they finally admit it so we don’t have to point it out anymore, but it’s just sad that they have this kind of clarity so soon. I would prefer to think that they were caught up in a frenzy of blind faith that so infected their brains that it will take them years to come down from it.
Nope.
As soon as the election returns come in they’re like: “Oh well, political trick didn’t work. On to the next issue.”
Damn it! That makes me even more mad than when they deny it.
And then here comes Bob Marshall again at the end. I thought he wasn’t that bad with the anti-immigrant insanity. I was told that because he was Catholic, he wasn’t willing to try to create hate for the purposes of an election. And, as I recall, he didn’t. Am I wrong?
NGL, somehow I knew I wasn’t the first or the last to equate this crap to WWII or the KKK or whatever. I KNOW I read similar comparisons in the PN online. I’m probably an easier target because I use my name for the most part (though I’m having fun with my screen-name in here…I’m attached to it now).
That IS sad when someone says they WANT a “wedge issue.” So we want do divide and conquer eh? Good. That’s a great way to try to run a country….or state….or county. NOT.
Thanks for the stat, Shelly. Very telling!
Why do people still take Second Alamo seriously after he makes comments like the the one that led this thread off? The best argument he can make against immigration is the number of non-Caucasian people he sees at the mall? Did anyone pick up on this besides “Opinion,” presumably a new person?
Are we just ignoring comments like this and no one told me?
Because that comment just sums it all up for me as to why I have always been uncomfortable with large groups of people rallying around this issue based on the very thing that Second Alamo is afraid of.
What he’s saying is that even if they all became citizens and spoke English well (which they will do in a generation, there is no doubt about that), Second Alamo will still not tolerate their presence because of how they look.
Why am I the only person upset by this?
Shelly, you’re right. I was more focused on the English Language courses, though, so I didn’t really pick up on it until you mentioned it just now. The sad thing is we get so accustomed to this kind of thing, we end up thinking it’s normal to equate people speaking foreign languages with illegal immigration. Whether we want to admit it or not, we’re sometimes a little desensitized to it, having been in this debate so long.
You are correct, SA has expressed a close minded view. Personally, I miss all the diversity I was used to when I worked in the Baily Cross Road area. All the different restaurants, etc.
Pinko is right, I too am getting desensitized I guess.
You guys ARE getting desensitized. Language is not a fair way to judge people’s immigration status, and neither is skin color.
But I don’t think Second Alamo was talking about immigration status. He was speaking more to the core of the issue. If we don’t do something to close up this society and negate the “Melting Pot” tradition we grew up believing in, there will be more and more places where the ethnicity mix is going to make Second Alamo uncomfortable. He’s not talking about a documented status mix, not at all.
When it comes down to losing this argument, people are showing their true colors.
Isn’t that what we have been saying from the beginning Shelly, that just looking and speaking spanish make you suspect of being a “criminal” ! SA just expressed what we all knew.
ShellyB,
I noticed it too…one of my posts earlier today referenced his comment about yearning to hear his native language! I said in response to it: Barf! It is sickening.
I am going to be a bad girl and defend SA. I am not defending how he feels. He is entitled to feel any way he chooses. I am defending his right to express it. He isn’t rude and he isn’t denigrating anyone else.
Many people are more comfortable being around those with whom they can easily communicate. I will also defend those who got a translator on Oct 16 2007 at citizens time at the BOCS meeting. They wanted to speak their first language. They were speaking in public in a highly charged environment. For all those who made snide comments about them not knowing a word of English–don’t believe that for a second!
I just sent my comments to the Governor.
Oh, forgot to mention. I asked him to support the Commission’s recommendations.
MH,
I agree that SA has a right to express it, I’m glad he does, my point is that it is important to know what hides so thinly under the surface, compelling people to react so strongly to those who are different. For PWC, some of those fears were expressed in a poorly designed, poorly researched resolution.
Oh Elena, I agree. But you know I have to fight the good fight. SA, Slow and Rick make it real difficult 😉
I was at a demonstration once and no one was speaking English. I was very uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable not because people weren’t speaking English but because I didn’t speak Arabic and I didn’t know what was being said.
So, I will defend his right to state he feels uncomfortable even though I might not agree. SA is always polite and I will move across the room to defend decent manners.
Yes, anyone will feel uncomfortable when their environment is different from what they are used to. I do feel sympathy for Second Alamo who is perhaps a bit MORE uncomfortable being around minorities than the rest of us.
But Elena is right, this is not the kind of things we should be crafting legislation upon. That’s the kind of thing you read about from the early 20th century. We need to outgrow government based on fear and hate. Fear turns to hate so easily, especially when our leaders fail us (not to name any names).
And as part of the growing pains of this, we need to point out when people express fear with a racial tinge to it, especially when they do so in a political discussion. Fear, hate, and politics are a bad combo and always have been.
TWINDAD, sorry I missed your objection to the “but our malls will have too many minorities” argument from Second Alamo.
I’m sorry that I am making fun of Second Alamo, but I was sorely disappointed in his response to the news of the Immigration Commission’s findings.
I decided a long time ago that comments like SecondAlamo’s people at the mall comment should be silently encouraged on this blog (as Moon-Howler is doing).
First of all, without them we’d have very little discussion on this immigration issue.
Second of all, innocent comments expressing fears and phobias are a telling compliment to what happens on BVBL, where you see people calling for hate violence because they don’t like the outcome of an election or the finding of a commission report. When federal lawmakers look at Prince William County as a test case for a politicized “crackdown,” rather than a solutions oriented approach to immigration policy, they will need to see both the Second Alamo and the Greg Letiecq types as examples of what can happen in a vacuum of leadership.
Habla Espanol??
I certainly do not think we ought to be making government policy set on people’s fears.
However, I am glad Second Alamo, Rick B, Slowpoke, and the crew are here. (if they are polite) Everyone needs to see things through someone else’s eyes.
I don’t care much for the marauding gangs of young people dressed in similar attire at Springfield Mall. I won’t go there because of that. Years ago I saw someone stabbed there.
Thank goodness someone is worried about my tax dollars being tossed on a leaf pile and burned. Thank goodness. I would rather put local money into solving, not whistleing, at problems. Use the money for street lighting, property code enforcement and litter/graffiti cleanup. It would have done more good and really address crime – that is if crime was your target.
Springfield Mall is where that woman was kidnapped. Never going there again. On-line shopping or Williamsburg/Leesburg. Actually, one year we drove to Hagerstown and spent an overnight – just to do shopping. Pleasant people, great accomodations and a little get away. Beats Potomac/Manassas Malls anyday. I don’t care what language they speak as long as they are pleasant and polite. Goes a long way with me!!
So it’s a crime to want the good old days when everyone spoke the same language, and you could strike up a conversation with anyone because we all had most things in common? Come on, it’s just human nature. Think about it, wouldn’t it seem rather odd to you if you went to a mall in Italy, and there were practically no Italians? That’s what it was like in Springfield. I expect to see a certain number of recent immigrants, but when I realize that number one I’m in a major mall in the US and then number 2, there are very few US born people present, then even the most liberal folks would have to take notice. It may not bother you, but it is an obvious fact, and that is what I was calling attention to.
No, I see your point. I went shopping in Italy – I only know Latin (not much help, but I could understand more than I spoke) They were terrific!! The woman in the little place down the street where I got a morning orange made me ask in Italian.
This area has always been different than other part of the US. I grew up in RI and it is still extremely homogenous. All Catholic all Italian…. I am very familiar with both Chicago and NYC. Both great towns and lots of fun, but, again, different than DC metro. Don’t know what it is about this area but, my hubby, a life long resident is more than ready for a change.
No, it isn’t a crime to long for the old days. We do expect for things to be as we last left them. Were it a place you shopped weekly, you would have either adapted or found another place to shop.
I am often horrified by things when I go back to the city where I grew up. I don’t like what has been done to my college campus. SA is right. What he is expressing is human nature.
SA, Try Fairfax Square.
“So it’s a crime to want the good old days when everyone spoke the same language,”
When was that? I must have missed that era. Either that or I never lived in such a place.
XXOO to you MH 🙂 I want people to express their fears, their concerns, their inner turmoil. I am sure SA represents alot of people. It is through discussing and confronting those fears that the real solutions will come to pass.
Why don’t people like to be around groups speaking other languages?
1. It makes them feel stupid.
2. It makes them feel left out.
3. It makes them wonder if they are being talked about or laughed at.
4. It makes them feel “different.”
If these things happen, they then feel angry, resentful, or fearful which can lead to prejudice.
What do you think?
I agree PAP.