VA Terror Law Used to Round Up and Deport Latino Laborers hanging out at 7-11
/The arrest of 24 Latino day laborers looking for work
outside a 7-Eleven in Woodbridge was intended as a crackdown on
loitering, Prince William County police say. The charge, they noted,
carries only a $100 fine. But the penalty for many ended up being more
severe: Eleven of the workers could not prove their identity and were
transferred to federal custody. They have been put in an adult
detention center in Manassas and face deportation. Immigration
advocates and officials from other jurisdictions say the mass roundup
last week is fracturing the fragile trust between local law enforcement
agencies and immigrants. The incident may discourage immigrants from
reporting crimes or working with detectives, they said, at a time when
millions of dollars are being spent to combat a growing gang problem.
"This is exactly what immigrants were afraid of -- a bunch of Latinos
hanging out and the police come by and pick them up and refer them" to
federal immigration agents, said Tim Freilich, managing attorney of the
Virginia Justice Center. "From a policy standpoint, the arrests don't
make any sense. It's not going to solve the issue of day laborers in
Woodbridge. . . . It's just going to frighten the immigrant community."
The arrests came about three months after a new Virginia law gave state
and local police the authority to arrest illegal immigrants without a
warrant. The law, which targeted possible terrorists, was intended to
be limited in scope and could be applied only if the immigrant had been
convicted of a felony, had been ordered out of the country and was
suspected of committing another crime. [more]
