The Prince William County Human Rights Commission is preparing a report this week on whether the county’s proposed illegal immigration crackdown will violate the rights of minority residents.
“It will be in the board members’ hands on Friday,” commission executive director Phyllis Aggrey said.
The controversial group will hammer out its final draft in a closed session Wednesday after receiving testimony from more than a dozen groups over the last 10 weeks.
The commission is set to release the report shortly before the board votes Oct. 2 on whether to implement
Police Chief Charlie Deane’s plan check the legal status of people arrested for crimes as minor as a traffic violation. The board is also considering whether to deny some county services to illegal residents.
“I personally hope they don’t do anything without looking at our report,” Vice Chairman Carlos Labiosa said. “We’re giving them as much information as possible because this is an important decision. … Once you do this, you can’t go back and do it again,” Labiosa said.
Supervisors voted last month to have Chairman Corey Stewart write a letter telling the commission it should not “critique the board’s policies after those polices have been adopted,” but instead advise the supervisors on the best way to implement the policies.
Ardent critics of the resolution, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Woodbridge Workers Committee, supplied most of the public testimony before the commission.
A representative of one of the two anti-illegal immigration groups who testified, Greg Letiecq of Help Save Manassas, called the group’s many meetings “goofy” and “useless.”
“If the result of the report is going to come from the testimony they have solicited, it’s going to be a rather bizarre report,” he said.
But others who testified saluted the commission for giving them a forum to question the policies.
“This will lead to the mistreatment of all immigrants,” said Evelyn Urrutia, who addressed the panel for the Tenants and Workers United union.
“I fear for myself and my family and for all who speak with accents.”
