To the consternation of those who believe sentimentality should trump law, the recent crackdown on illegalimmigration in Prince William County, Virginia, appears to be having the desired effect. Anecdotal evidence — such as fewer children enrolled in English-as-a-second-language courses, and Hispanic soccer leagues losing their players — suggests that illegal residents are self-deporting, if only to neighboring counties.
If that is, in fact, the case, it is to Prince William’s benefit. By definition, illegal immigrants are people unwilling to follow the rules, which makes them detriments to a society that depends on respect for the rule of law.
Nonetheless, county officials who supported the ordinance that went into effect this month, which requires police officers to ask for proof of citizenship from individuals they have reason to believe are in this country illegally, were depicted as people who eat puppies for breakfast merely for defending law enforcement.
Having withstood that assault, they should not let themselves now be cowed into suspending reason by insisting they will not engage in “racial profiling” to enforce the ordinance. Since the majority of the county’s illegal residents are Hispanic or Latino, it is only logical to acknowledge that Hispanics or Latinos are more likely to be illegal immigrants than individuals of other races.
A police officer who honestly believes that an English-speaking African-American is as likely to be Mexican as a Spanish-speaking Hispanic is not intelligent enough to hold his job.
Why tie the hands of law enforcement officers by making them pretend not to know what is obvious?
The point, of course, is for the county to avoid lawsuits, but the strategy almost certainly will work against law-abiding citizens. How else can police officers inoculate themselves against allegations of racial profiling except to treat all people as equally suspect?
Like airport screeners who pretend an 80-year-old war veteran is as likely to be a terrorist as a 30-year-old Arab male, Prince William authorities will have to be able to demonstrate that they questioned the citizenship of Nordic soccer moms and elderly black men as often as they questioned Hispanics who can’t speak English.
Why else would Police Chief Charlie Deane want cameras installed in each of the county’s police cars to protect his officers from allegations of racial profiling unless the recordings are going to be used to show that all citizens are hassled equally?
The cameras will add more than $3 million to the cost of enforcing the ordinance and — because the county is seeking federal funds to help pay for them — that cost will be borne by citizens in other states. It may be the lamentable way our system now operates, but it remains fundamentally unfair that citizens in Montana, for instance, must send money to Washington, which takes a cut before sending it to citizens in Virginia for a strictly local need.
Costs aside, it is ridiculous to worry about racially profiling individuals who self-identify in that manner. When a soccer team names itself Honduras de Manassas, it is not scurrilous to assume that the players identify themselves as Hondurans.
And when people join Mexicans Without Borders to make the statement that Mexicans are entitled to live in the United States regardless of citizenship, it is reasonable to assume that some of the organization’s members have not complied with residency requirements.
No matter how sympathetic one might be to people striving for a better life, illegal immigration is an assault on the rule of law — and tolerating it is an injustice to those who came to this country legally.
Prince William County has taken a commendable step to address a problem that concerns so many of its legal residents. But officials should make sure their focus remains on civic — not political — correctness.
Examiner Columnist Melanie Scarborough lives in Alexandria.
