Denying government services to illegal immigrants is not a task that can be accomplished quickly or simply, Loudoun County supervisors said Tuesday as they debated the hot-button issue in Leesburg.
Supervisors decided to delay action and hold a detailed workshop Sept. 19 after fielding a county report that questioned whether they even have the power to deny services to illegal immigrants.
They want to further study all the legal and logistical hurdles that go into banning access to services such as county
parks, youth programs and landfills.
“To say this is a very complicated issue is a gross understatement, a gross understatement,” Supervisor Jim Burton said.
But supervisors did not want their action to be seen as backing away from the issue, and many restated their desire to take a stand.
“We cannot spend money on illegal activities,” Vice Chairman Bruce Tulloch said, “and if we’re funding illegal activities and we are funding [services for] illegal immigrants, we are breaking our oaths.
“I don’t know how we’re going to end up in this county, having this discussion, but it’s a good discussion to have if it wakes up the people in Richmond and in Washington,” Tulloch said.
Other proposals under review include requiring county contractors to certify that their workers are legal and making developers declare they will use only legal workers to build homes and business properties.
About a dozen people addressed the board on immigration, with almost all supporting a county crackdown on illegal immigration.
But a mother of six opposing the resolution recalled her horror when a police officer in the neighboring town of Herndon asked her grown daughter, who had been adopted 25 years ago from Mexico, to produce “her papers” outside a restaurant recently.
“This will create an atmosphere that some police officers feel they can indiscriminately question people of Hispanic origin,” Theresa Marie Hagel said.
Racism and prejudice has nothing to do with what the board is considering, countered Greg Stone, a supporter of the resolution who said local and state governments are finally realizing the importance of curbing illegal immigration.
“The intent by some to frame this as an issue of persecution is wrong, and frankly insulting,” said Stone, a Sterling business owner and member of the anti-illegal-immigration group Help Save Loudoun.
