‘People are frustrated about it’:
Illegal immigration a huge election issue, say voters, politicians
Monday, Oct 08, 2007
Richmond Times-Dispatch
LAKE RIDGE — When Wendy Turner walks into the voting booth on Nov. 6, how a candidate feels about illegal immigration will help decide for whom she casts her ballot.
“It’s going to be a huge election issue,” the Stafford County woman said Wednesday as she loaded her car with groceries in an eastern Prince William County shopping center parking lot.
“If you’re in this country, you should be here legally and you should learn to speak the language,” said Turner, a Republican-leaning voter who teaches at a Woodbridge Montessori school.
As the election for all 100 House of Delegates and 40 state Senate seats approaches, immigration is emerging as a key issue — particularly in Northern Virginia, where explosive growth has brought in untold numbers of largely Latino workers lured by construction-related jobs.
Republicans hope to retain control of the General Assembly, where proposals to crack down on illegal immigration have faltered but stirred emotional debate over the past several years. The Republican Party of Virginia seized upon the topic in a recent statewide mailing, listing it among roads and taxes where “Democrats want to take the wrong direction.”
Prince William, viewed as the vortex of immigration angst, has generated national headlines for its aggressive efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants. But citing budget constraints, the Board of Supervisors last week put off allocating the $14.2 million the measures would cost.
Frustrated by the federal government’s refusal to enforce immigration laws and angered by what they view as a drain on already stressed services, other counties are trying to address the matter, including Chesterfield, Culpeper, Loudoun and Spotsylvania.
“This has reached a tipping point,” said Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, who pushed the bill creating the newly appointed Virginia Commission on Immigration.
“There’s been an influx of non-English-speaking folks that are at least in appearance not acclimating themselves easily or seemingly not wanting to do so, who are not speaking English, or are not adopting cultural or resident ways of Americans,” Marshall said.
On the campaign trail, Marshall said, immigration falls right behind transportation or taxes as voters’ top concern, “depending on which neighborhood you walk into.”
Marshall’s opponent, Democrat Bruce Roemmelt, called immigration among the top five issues he hears on the hustings.
“People are frustrated about it,” he said. “They’re concerned about essentially the lack of action, and they’re really frustrated with President Bush and Congress.”
According to U.S. census figures, the population of Prince William — once a rural outpost, now a suburb of Washington — skyrocketed 27 percent between 2000 and 2006. Hispanics account for 18 percent of the county’s population, three times the state level, though many believe that number is low.
“One of the big issues here is illegal immigration,” said John W. Jones Jr., a retired Marine who lives in Woodbridge and a lifelong Democratic voter. “The next issue is trying to get money for the county” to deal with it. “I hope we can get this immigration issue resolved.”
Other voters direct their anger to the White House and Congress, which was unable this year to successfully craft an immigration bill.
“My problem is with the people on the Hill getting paid the big bucks and they didn’t even deal with it,” said Nick Rasch of Triangle, a retired federal government employee. “Why aren’t they doing their job?”
The focus on illegal immigration has allowed Republicans to divert attention from driver fees, which dominated the debate this summer, said a political analyst who called it “political gold” for the GOP.
“The immigration issue has divided the Republican Party nationally, with President Bush taking a more moderate stand than the Republicans in Congress,” said Stephen J. Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington.
“But here in Virginia, Republicans think a strong stand on immigration is their key to staying the majority power in the legislature. It’s taken on a particularly powerful focus between Washington and Richmond.”
House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry, said both parties agree that illegal immigration is a problem since the federal government “has abdicated its responsibility and they’ve thrown this mess to the states to try to deal with it.”
But it’s one of an array of issues facing the state, he said, and it affords the GOP cover from other controversial topics.
“The abusive-driver fees are absolutely killing them, and so they are almost running to the immigration issue as a life preserver in a very tumultuous sea,” Armstrong said.
An activist for immigrant rights said she is concerned about “people playing on fear” and “using specious arguments to exacerbate fear.”
“I hold leaders accountable not just for the intent of what they say, but the effect of what they say,” said Claire Guthrie Gasta?aga, who lobbies for the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations.
“Anybody who thinks the effect of this highly charged rhetoric is isolated solely to people who are closely and carefully identified as not being here lawfully is at best naive, and at worse purposely inciting hatred.”
Contact Pamela Stallsmith at (804) 649-6746 or pstallsmith@timesdispatch.com.
