Experts suggest these are fairly recent trends for Greater Northern Virginia, which also includes Washington, D.C, and much of the Commonwealth. Together in the last twenty years, these jurisdictions have become one of the top destinations for immigrants in the United States after more familiar metropolitan areas, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The immigration trend mirrors the growth of the National Capitol and mid-Atlantic regions into an international business center.

But beyond business competitiveness and employment growth, two positive examples of adjustments to new Americans, are dozens of other serious questions. As posed by a 2001 study released by the Brookings Institution (“The World in a Zip Code: Greater Washington, D.C. as a New Region of Immigration,” by Audrey Singer, Carnegie Endowment, and Samantha Friedman, Ivan Cheung and Marie Price, The George Washington University), for example, “How do established organizations, institutions and programs, particularly schools, health clinics, transportation services, and food and other commercial outlets alter their services to meet the challenges of immigrant newcomers?"

“Very well” may be the answer if one looks at communities as diverse as Alexandria, Arlington, Charlottesville, Fairfax and Harrisonburg, where immigrant communities have expanded rapidly in recent years and become critical parts of social, religious, educational and political networks.

That 2001 study, for example, showed a quarter-million new legal immigrants coming to Greater Northern Virginia in the 1990s. Projecting the U.S. Census data to 2006 suggests that the number of legal immigrants in the region might now reach one million.

There is a huge amount of diversity in the immigrant mix. El Salvador, Vietnam, India, China, Philippines, South Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Pakistan and Peru were the top countries of origin. Immigrants help keep the Northern Virginia economy booming while the unemployment rate sits just above two percent. And one can find every variety of cuisine known to mankind any day of the week.

“Not very well” may be the answer, however, if one is to judge from legislation under consideration in the Virginia General Assembly. There are dozens of bills to restrict, ban, bar or otherwise keep the door closed to undocumented immigrants. “What is it about illegal that you don’t understand?!” appears to test well in political surveys about undocumented immigrants, which may explain some of the bills.

Many new candidates who tied their political fortunes to the issue in 2005, however, including a candidate for governor, did not succeed. What is appropriate or effective about attempting to substitute state and local government resources for those of a federal government that is either indifferent or incompetent on immigration may be the better question.

Some bills seem of little consequence, including one that would require proof of citizenship before voting. When did that become such a big voter fraud problem that Americans would have to carry their passports around inside the U.S.? Other bills, such as a prohibition on issuing a drivers license to persons who are not fluent in English, turn out to be more serious. How can any of those billions of people worldwide, much less tens of thousands in Virginia, ever hope to drive safely without using English?

Still other proposals, including state penalties or bans on state contracts for employers who hire undocumented immigrants, would prove to be very problematic for businesses. Accordingly, those proposals have been dropped.

But the most punitive bills would deny what are seen as benefits only for law-abiding, tax-paying Virginians. Undocumented immigrants who suffer a workplace injury or death, for example, would be barred from collecting workers compensation benefits or filing legal claims. No mention of basic U.S. commitments to international human rights related to health, safety and justice.

And then there is legislation to bar undocumented immigrants from attending state colleges and universities or at least not being eligible for in-state tuition rates. So much for approving new management agreements that give state colleges and universities more autonomy in operations and administrative matters, including admissions.

Fortunately in the midst of all these expressions of fear and uncertainty about the future, at least one legislator matches the positive attitude of that Chinese-American citizen. State Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, Jr., R-Augusta, took a second look at the college and university questions early in February and came out in a different place. Sen. Hanger decided that incentives for young immigrants to continue their education were more valuable than punitive measures that might drive them into less productive pursuits, even gangs. Sen. Hanger’s newest proposal would make undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition if they graduated from a Virginia high school, if their families had paid income taxes for at least three years and if they were pursuing legal resident status with the federal government.

The Hanger approach provides a lot of guidance on dealing constructively with immigration issues, unlike all the “Who hates illegal immigration the most?” chest-thumping that’s gone on. Sen. Hanger’s incentives will help immigrant students attain what most critics say they are after -- legal, law-abiding, smart, tax-paying legal residents. Think opportunity knocking, doors opening.