The leaders of Washington-area immigrant rights groups say Virginia communities that are considering denying services to illegal immigrants are actually helping immigrant advocacy organizations to get organized and coordinate tactics.
Northern Virginia’s Prince William County was the first to pass a resolution this summer that seeks to discourage illegal immigrants from residing within its boundaries, but three other Virginia jurisdictions (Spotsylvania, Culpeper and Loudoun counties) have followed suit by filing ordinances that crack down on illegal immigrants.
“One of the silver linings of the stuff happening in Virginia is that it has the unintended result of bringing groups together,” said Pedro Aviles, director of the National Capital Immigration Coalition. “Now what the immigrant community is saying is we need to institutionalize a coalition to help establish communication, cooperation and support of the different groups that have sprung out of the Washington area in the past 20 years.”
Gustavo Torres, executive director of immigrant advocacy group CASA of Maryland, agreed.
“When acommunity is in crisis, it brings people together,” Torres said. “That is exactly how we are operating right now. These are opportunistic politicians and policy-makers, and they are going to see how these decisions to take on immigrant communities will affect their future.”
Immigrant advocates say Aviles’ group, the National Capital Immigration Coalition, has taken the lead in getting Washington, Maryland and Virginia advocacy groups to collaborate in opposition to what they say are “anti-immigrant” proposals. The NCIC Web site says its goal is “attaining legalization and citizenship for all immigrants in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.”
Torres said CASA of Maryland leaders have told Virginia immigrant rights groups that their Maryland members will back them in their efforts to combat anti-illegal immigration ordinances.
“As their brothers and sisters in Maryland, we believe it is our job to support them in whatever they decide to do — whether it’s a boycott, a caravan, whatever they choose to do that is peaceful, we are totally in support,” Torres said.
Nancy Lyall, a spokeswoman for Northern Virginia immigrant outreach organization Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, said the Virginia groups can use the help.
“We’re a very small organization and right now our full focus is on what’s going on in Prince William County,” Lyall said. “Groups like CASA of Maryland are far more established, their funding is relatively set.”
