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BDA On The Latest Illegal Alien Story
By Greg L | 6 April 2007 | Illegal Aliens, Virginia Politics | 12 Comments
Bill O’Reilly of Fox News has been hammering the mayor of Virginia Beach for policies which have allowed an illegal alien with a criminal history to remain in the commonwealth long enough to kill two girls. In other threads, it seems like there’s a lot citizens have to say about this tragedy, which was 100% preventable after all, and about Senator Ken Stolle who has been particularly unhelpful on this issue.
While I am swamped with trying to get Help Save Manassas moving forward and responding to inquiries about it, perhaps readers would like to weigh in on how significant this incident will be in the ongoing debate on the topic of illegal immigration. My take is that incidents like this will have a profound impact on the re-election chances of some who have been unhelpful on this issue, and we may have enough momentum here to get some of those fifty or so bills that addressed illegal immigration which failed this year to make their way to the Governor in the next legislative session. Is this a temporary thing, or has the issue of illegal immigration permanently exploded on the Virginia political landscape?
I think this could dramatically change what happens in the General Assembly next year.
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12 Comments
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I think this issue has been festering below the surface for a while. Lid was kept on it at State and Local level by old mantra “It is federal government issue”
However, many citizens are waking up and realizing if we let feds do something, our communities will be destroyed before that happens. Manassas is a prime example of what happens when nothing is done. All the area school systems are buckling under $$$ pressure and I don’t understand how many of them are continuing to run.
This issue will probably have an impact on elections. Personally, old lies of “Illegal immigrants point more money into system then they take out” has proven false and general public knows it. Medical Insurance is going up, law enforcement can’t handle much more and our car insurance rates are outrageous.
I guess only way to fight back is lobby at local and state level and build up groundswell to national level.
“Unhelpful” is a bit of Rumsfeldian understatement when it comes to Stolle. Stolle seems to have presided over the chain of legislative actions that have created the current mess. You mentioned other threads - I’d be interested in links to more information on this if you get a chance to point us to them.
Here’s your links, JB…
Too Little, Too Late: Blame Stolle
http://www.vbdems.org/?p=1019
Preventing Another Alfredo Ramos’
http://www.vbdems.org/?p=1014
O’Reilly is going all the way on this, he specifically called out Tim Kaine on this issue, too.
Here’s the problem. Its the fact that this guy had a RECORD, that he had been arrested before and known to be here illegally, yet he could fall through the cracks in Virignia Beach. THAT is the outrage. Stolle and Kaine could help today by agree to legislation that would end this local loophole.
But, and I know O’Reilly is going after the mayor and rightly so, but its the JUDGE that is the real villian here. He let this guy go.
Maybe Greg can help me understand this. But WHY is it when state and local governments find out someone is here illegally, they can’t just call INS or DHS and have someone down at the jail by morning to take the guy and process him out of the country? Why does that seem so difficult?
I think progress can be made on elected officials who are not aware of how bad the issue is, or those that have been indifference. However, I believe it is a lost cause for follks like Timmy Kaine, who openly supports illegals. They simply do not want to even talk about the ugly side of illegal immigration. All they see are future voters.
So, it is very important to elect people like Jackson Miller to the GA in order to get a majority that can override any veto by Kaine.
When politicians know the public will not back them unless they are willing to take action against illegal aliens, they will have to start or end their political careers. More people need to be vocal about this. They need to call Ken Stolles office and tell him what they think of him. They need to call Kaines office and tell him we demand that something be done.
Anyone who has seen this story, and others, needs to pick up that phone! If everyone who is upset by this makes that phone call, maybe, just maybe we will have accomplished something.
Here is contact information if you want to start calling now.
Email the Governor NOW
By letter, phone or fax to:
Office of the Governor
Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor
1111 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Fax: (804) 371-6351
District office
Office of Senator Ken Stolle
2101 Parks Avenue, Suite 700
Virginia Beach, VA 23451-4160
(757) 486-5700 phone
(757) 486-8020 fax
Mailing Address:
Office of Senator Ken Stolle
Senate of Virginia
Post Office Box 396
Richmond, VA 23218
(804) 698-7508 phone
(804) 698-7651 fax
(800) 889-0229 or (804) 698-1990 constituent hotline
(804) 698-7419 text telephone (tyy/tdd) services
Greg:
Great blog entry. This issue finally has reached critical mass. No going back, now.
The time is now.
There has been a massive problem in North Carolina; same situation.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R -Charlotte) wants Congress to require the deportation of all illegal immigrants who are convicted of driving while impaired. Her bill, the Scott Gardner Act, is named for a Mount Holly teacher killed in 2005 by a drunken-driving illegal immigrant.
Greg — this is a good idea. Read about it:
“Out of here”
http://www.newsobserver.com/579/story/552452.html
“Wreck suspect may be deported - Officials say a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run is here illegally and has prior convictions”
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/550988.html
http://myrick.house.gov/hot_topics_immigration_statementtointrosgaseptpresscondc.htm
“H.R. 3776 [109th]: Scott Gardner Act”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-3776
“Virginia Beach leaders strike back at Fox’s Bill O’Reilly”
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=122390&ran=23962&tref=po
Police Chief Jake Jacocks Jr. said he found it “ironic that had the intoxicated driver been born and raised in Virginia Beach, little notice would have been given to this senseless tragedy by the media or the community at large.
O’Reilly was castigating a Virginia Beach policy that forbids patrol officers from asking the immigration status of defendants charged with misdemeanors.
Jacocks said the policy is similar to those used by other large cities and is necessary so that illegal immigrants will report crimes and help in the prosecution of crimes without fear of retribution from law enforcement.
Jacocks, along with his leadership command, crafted the policy and put it into practice in September 2005. “As chief of police, it is my policy,” he said.
Okay, now the folks in VA Beach need to get him fired. My hope is that when Americans see this they will be outraged and finally do something about the situation.
Unfortunately, I bet just a select few even knew that VA Beach was a sanctuary city. I had no idea.
Greg- I would say that HSM needs to take action and help turn this around.
Last night I checked billorielly.com to see the list of sanctuary city’s and to my amazement, Va Beach wasn’t listed on it. I e mailed him last night and I see that the list has been corrected. It also looks like a couple more were added.
Had to say that Va. Beach is on the O’Reilly list now:
http://billoreilly.com/blog?action=viewBlog&blogID=88083313171143568
Sadly, this list appears to be growing.