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Local cops take on illegal immigrants
Published: 23 January, 2010, 00:48
Edited: 16 February, 2010, 00:43
US, Laredo: A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks the names of detainees after they were caught crossing from Mexico into the United States. (John Moore/Getty Images/AFP)
(18.4Mb) embed videoBecause of a lack of federal immigration reform, many counties in the United States have decided to take the matter into their own hands.
US President Barack Obama has said that immigration reform is one of his top priorities for his first term, but with healthcare, Afghanistan and the economy taking up much of his time, it seems as if the issue has fallen by the wayside. As a result, many American counties have decided to take the issue into their own hands.
Day laborers have become a common sight in Prince William in recent years. Studies show that almost 80 percent of day laborers are illegal immigrants.
"They're going to have to look for work and they do it over here, sometimes we get calls…complaints from citizens," said Mendoza.
However, long-time residents of this suburban county just a short drive from Washington D.C. want them gone.
"If you live next to a house with three or four bedrooms and there's 20 people crammed into it who all appear to be day laborers and all of the trash and noise and potential safety issues around that, it really hits people home. It's their neighborhood, their street, their personal environment, where they’re affected," said Greg Letiecq, who helped pass a new law to get illegal immigrants out of the county.
The law allows local police officers to check the immigration status of anyone who gets arrested. Some see Letiecq's approach as heroic, others call him a bigot. Critics of the policy say it gives officers the right to target Latin Americans, illegal or not.
"I think the trust between the community and the police was destroyed, completely destroyed. I haven’t seen Latino people calling the police except in extreme cases," said Ricardo Juarez, an activist from the group Mexicans without Borders.
Juarez came to the US from Mexico illegally 15 years ago. Since then he's paid taxes, held a steady construction job, and sent his son to the local schools. To Juarez, Prince Williams is his home just as much as it is Letiecq’s.
"We not only work here, we not only sleep here, we also spend our money here in many different ways so there are many different ways immigrants contribute to the economical growth of the county," Juarez said.
Today Juarez has a hotline for members of his community who need help. He gets several calls a day from friends in trouble.
"If you're driving on the street and you are Latino and you have a cop on your back you must be afraid. It’s a sense that is product or consequence of the policy," he said.
Another consequence of the policy has been an exodus of Latinos from Prince William County.
"It was amazing, we were watching overcrowded houses just empty out in the middle of the night along with most of the appliances and copper piping and that kind of stuff, but it was happening everywhere that the problems that existed in their neighborhoods with certain houses were disappearing," Letiecq said.
But for some like Juarez, those problems were real people who left the county out of fear.
"I have a friend…she took the decision to leave this city and the county because well she said is that she don't want her daughter and her son to grow up in this environment with hate and racism," Juarez said.
On the same ground that the American civil war was fought to empower minorities, it seems that a new battle over immigration is just beginning.
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I am really sad to say that Prince William County, where many of my friends and relatives live, has made a poor choice. The fast growing County made a great deal of progress in the last twenty years. Most of it, on the backs of the immigrant Latino community. Many immigrants went on and became citizens, and many of them are raising their kids and grandkids there. Many are homeowners, business owners, neighbors and friends. And we knew that many are struggling, waiting endlessly for the immigration status to be processed --- sometimes years. Most people that are called "illegal", are not really illegal. The hopelessly inefficient immigration service is making mockery of laws and rules. It is making people wait years to hear back on any application. Even what should be a simple extension of work permits takes years, involves convaluted steps, and without a lawyer one really does not have a chance to complete the process. Legal fees are on average $5,000 for lawyer that follows up on someone's immigration status. Prince William County residents should have taken the blessings with some problems. Without these workers many residents could not afford to hire help to remodel their homes, or maintain their yards. But with the fast growth come problems. Now, Prince William is paying the piper for their decisions. In the recession, and with Latino community, legal or illegal, exiting the County, the property prices in Prince William County have taken a hit, much harder then the neighboring counties. Properties that were selling only two years ago at $350,000, are now going for $150,000. And many are in foreclosure. From County revenues, to businesses, the impact of exodus is being felt.
What hate and racism? People who are in this country illegally are breaking our laws. If you work here without authorization you are either using document fraud, a felony, or id theft, a felony, or working under the table, ie tax evasion, a felony. Americans and legal immigrants spend a lot of time in jail for those crimes. It appears illegal immigrants think they are above our laws. They are not. Why should people breaking our laws be given preferential immigration treatment over people trying to come here legally. It is morally wrong and goes against everything America stands for... the rule of law, equal treatment under the law, and no discrimination. There will never be amnesty because Americans know right from wrong, no matter how many illegal immigrants make phony complaints about racism.
this is already happening in Arizona and yes properties are down and available by the hundreds investors are making money out of this exodus I guess this anti-imigrant policies are paying out for some