Virginia General Assembly members introduced dozens of bills this year to toughen the commonwealth’s laws governing illegal immigration, but lawmakers left Richmond without sending any of them to Gov. Tim Kaine’s desk.
“A lot of those bills were ridiculous and were going to do more harm than good,” said Sen. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, the chairman of the Senate committee that killed several of the proposals. “The federal government is in charge of immigration. The state should stay out of it.”
One immigrant-related measure that is awaiting Kaine’s decision would set up a Virginia Commission on Immigration.
The group would be charged with studying immigration issues and finding areas where the federal government is not fulfilling its responsibilities, said Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, who proposed the formation of the commission.
“The members would let us know what is going on and then we would decide what action to take,” Marshall said. “I have been trying to get this bill through for five years. I guess my colleagues finally realized how important an issue this is.”
The other significant immigration bill on its way to Kaine would make it a felony for anyone to extort an immigrant by threatening to withhold immigration documents or to report an illegal alien to the authorities.
Several legislators introduced anti-extortion bills because they are concerned that immigrants, especially those in the country illegally, are being coerced into performing sexual favors or working as prostitutes, or are forced into doing other things by people who withhold their green cards or scare them with threats of phone calls to the police.
“Just because they are in this country illegally doesn’t mean they should be treated like garbage,” said Del. David Albo, R-Springfield.
