Three years ago, Prince William County achieved notoriety by adopting legislation that was supposedly designed to stem illegal immigration but in reality harassed Latinos, many of whom are hard-working and law-abiding.
What goes around comes around. Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the PWC board of supervisors, is beating the drum for Virginia to adopt a statewide anti-illegals ban of the same type as the one Arizona recently adopted which Stewart proudly says is modeled after PWC’s 2007 law.
Speaking on “fair and balanced’ Fox News, Stewart presented statistics that after the law in Prince William, violent crime dropped 38 percent, English as a Second Language enrollment dropped to zero and most citizens of the predominately white and affluent suburb of Washington, D.C. approved of the law.
Stewart believes that the 2011 General Assembly session is the perfect time to adopt another version of Arizona’s law which requires police to check the immigration papers of anyone they think might be illegal. He also wants to make it illegal to have day labor centers where one can find temporary workers or the solicit work on roadsides. The timing is right because state elections follow the 2011 session.
What Stewart doesn’t note is that Arizona’s racist law has been bashed by many throughout the U.S. as a throwback to the country’s tarnished reputation for tolerance when it comes to the white Protestant majority trying to keep out darker-skinned people or those of other religions, notably Catholics, Jews and Muslims. Activist groups have campaigned to stop tour buses and sports teams from stopping in the Copper State.
Plus, there may be some problem with Stewart’s facts. The advocacy group Media Matters reports that in 2009, after the law was passed in PWC, violent crime actually increased by 10.9 percent. Go figure.
Another problem is that being a white bedroom community, Prince Williams isn’t exactly a hotbed of rape, murder and robbery that one sees in the District of Columbia, Richmond or the inner cities of Tidewater. Indeed, PWC’s violent crime index, according to a University of Wisconsin study, is only 206 (in crimes per 100,000 population). If you want more crime, look to Portsmouth or Richmond. Much of the crime there is in African-American neighborhoods where drugs are a problem.
The PWC law was aimed at Hispanics who may or may not have their papers in order and handle much of the hard work that native-born Americans won’t do, such as landscaping, construction or busing restaurant tables. According to Latino activists, all that the law did was annoy Latinos and make them move their work or place of residence to a neighboring, more tolerant and less racist community.
As for English as a Second Language, one wonders what it is with these neo-Know Nothings like Stewart. Our world, especially that in the D.C. area, is becoming much more global and diverse. One would want new immigrants. They are hard working and some are quite bright. According to London’s Economist, between 2000 and 2004, Americans of Chinese or Indian descent won 14 percent of all patents although they make up less than 5 percent of the population.
Admittedly, the U.S. needs immigration reform but it must take into account the advantages of having immigrants and how they help solve America’s labor problems. Racist and polarizing initiatives such as Stewart’s need to be dumped, pronto.
Peter Galuszka
