|
Virginia
is for Gulags
A
plan for a special prison for illegal aliens is
jolting. Is it really needed, or is its purpose to
draw attention from GOP failures?
One
of the more pathetic, if amusing, moments during
the August 1991 coup against liberal Soviet
reformer Mikhail S. Gorbachev took the form of an
unusual factory order. Reactionary coup plotters
wanted 250,000 pairs of handcuffs to subdue
opponents once they made their bold move. Of
course, the attempt to turn back the clock to
Stalinism, otherwise known as “The Vodka
Putsch,” failed miserably due to the drunken
ineptness of the plotters and popular support for
Gorbachev. But therein lies a lesson.
Legislators
in this birthplace of Jeffersonian Democracy are
considering building a special 1,000-person
detention center for immigrants who snuck in or
whose paperwork is not in order. This is one of 11
proposals before the State Crime Commission that
is tasked with taking care of criminality. A
public hearing is set for Oct. 16. The next
session of the General Assembly could push the
idea further.
Like
the brains behind “The Vodka Putsch,” some of
our Virginia lawmakers, most of them Republicans,
want to be ready for the crackdown. Up to now,
they have worked hard stirring up the sense that
an invasion of illegal aliens is upon us.
Dark-skinned people who speak funny- sounding
languages can be seen more often at convenience
stores and gas stations. Hardworking, God-fearing
and, of course, mostly White Virginians are stuck
paying for Jose or Arun or Mamood as he and his
seriously extended family wantonly steal benefits,
college slots and jobs. Such is the world as many
lawmakers – some Democratic but mostly
Republican – want us to see it.
Xenophobia
does have legs, as cynical politicians know. When
the General Assembly meets Jan. 11, it will
consider more than 40 bills and resolutions that,
among other things, would make it harder for
immigrants to get drivers licenses, prevent
companies from hiring illegal foreign labor and
keep undocumented wogs from benefiting from
in-state college tuition. Many cities and
counties, including my own home of Chesterfield,
have proposed resolutions to make “English”
the “official” language.
And
now, to be sure, the State Crime Commission wants
a special Gulag to handle the alien wave.
According to SCC member state Sen. Kenneth W.
Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, such a facility may be
needed because in one study, an estimated six to
10 percent of the inmates held in Virginia jails
may have been illegal immigrants. The U.S. Bureau
of Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t
have the bed space to handle all of the illegal
aliens thought to be deserving of confinement,
Stolle said..
Let’s
go over that again. The facility may be
needed because up to 10 percent of jail immigrants
may be illegal immigrants. But the figures,
when held up to the light, get fuzzy. According to
the Associated Press, the real number is
lower – maybe three to five percent of the
population of the so-called “Top 10” jails on
the SCC list are illegal
immigrants. The numbers blur even more when you
consider that the feds already ask local jailors
to hold illegal immigrants for deportation. So,
you may be factoring in an element that’s
already been cracked down upon and doesn’t need
another roundup.
So,
how many illegal immigrants are in Virginia,
anyway? According to the Washington Post,
the number could be as high as 180,000, triple
what it was in 1996, against a state population of
7.6 million. But this, once again, is an estimate.
And, given a state unemployment rate of about 3.1
percent, it is hard to fathom just how many jobs
the illegals are actually taking away.
But
the lack of good data doesn’t stop our
legislators. House Speaker William J. Howell, a
Republican representing Stafford County,
pronounced that illegals are stealing cheap,
in-state tuition slots at highly regarded public
universities, including the University of Virginia
and the College of William and Mary. The argument
seems to say that some young Virginians might be
disenfranchised even though they are more worthy
because they are White or can trace ancestry back
to the colonialist First Families. Problem is,
just after Howell made his comments, the
aforementioned universities denied that they have
any illegals at all because their selection
processes are simply too rigorous. Howell didn’t
have much of a response and couldn’t name cases.
The
clearest reason for the hysteria over the alien
invasion is that the state’s GOP has shot itself
in the foot again and again.
Among
the party's recent screw-ups are transportation
policies and no-tax dogmas that have led to such
subterfuges as civil penalties exclusively for
Virginia drivers and moneyless regional tax
authorities.
One of their guiding lights with much national
promise, George Allen, who won big political
points in the 1990s by demanding $400 million in
new prisons, self-destructed last year after
insulting a dark-skinned young man on the campaign
trail. He also avoided admitting that he had a
Jewish mother, as if that was somehow unappealing
and “un-Virginian.” Now, we have the Virginia
Gulag proposal.
What’s
next -- orders for 180,000 sets of handcuffs?
--
October 1, 2007
|