Ines Olivia Martinez wonders if her family will be denied medical care in the US. Even her mentally disabled 13-year-old son has been anxiously pointing out police cars amid fears of a local crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Resolutions to deny a potentially wide range of public services to illegal immigrants have thrust two northern Virginia counties into the US immigration debate.
The measures passed last month in Prince William and Loudoun counties join a flurry of recent efforts by local governments across the US that believe the federal government has not done enough to stop illegal immigration.
But while other jurisdictions have focused largely on landlords and employers who knowingly rent to and hire illegal immigrants, the Virginia resolutions take a more direct approach. The National Association of Counties says the two counties are the first it knows of to pass measures aimed at denying services.
They probably will not be the last. Officials in other Virginia counties have said they plan to follow suit, and the sponsor of the Prince William resolution says he has gotten e-mails from all over the country praising his efforts.
The new approach comes as some jurisdictions back off plans to crack down on landlords and employers following a federal court ruling last month that struck down a law in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
The much-copied law would have imposed fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denied business permits to those who employ them.
Hazleton on Thursday filed a notice of appeal in federal court, although it could take up to six months before the appeal is heard.
The northern Virginia measures are also likely to face legal challenges. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund has threatened to sue Prince William County. Other groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say they fear service restrictions will result in discrimination, but are waiting to see how the crackdown will be implemented before taking legal action.
Critics, however, say the resolutions are a racist reaction to profound demographic changes in Prince William and Loudoun, two of the fastest-growing counties in the Washington area. Together, the counties account for 8 percent of Virginia's population, with more than 600,000 residents.
According to US census estimates released this month, Prince William's Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000, to nearly 70,000 last year. Non-Hispanic whites account for a little more than half of the population, down from about two-thirds in 2000. In Loudoun, the share of minorities increased from 20 percent to 32 percent.
Proponents blame illegal immigrants for changing the character of the region, accusing them of packing too many people into single-family homes and failing to learn English.
For Martinez -- who has lived in Manassas, in Prince William County, for two years -- the resentment against illegal immigrants came as a surprise.
"It broke my heart," the 41-year-old Mexico City native said of the measure. "We were all thinking there would be an amnesty" declared by the federal government.
In Loudoun and Prince William, officials are still studying which public services legally can be withheld and how such restrictions could be implemented.
The resolutions say emergency medical care will not be denied, and federal restrictions already control many other services. For instance, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that children cannot be kept out of school on the basis of immigration status, while food stamps are off-limits to illegal immigrants.
The status of other services, such as health care for the uninsured, libraries and parks, are less clear-cut.
Critics say limiting access to facilities would make the counties feel like police states for everyone who sets foot there.
Prince William County Police Chief Charlie Deane has warned that the crackdown could backfire.
The resolution in his county includes a provision instructing police to investigate the immigration status of anyone they detain if there is probable cause to believe the person is in the country illegally.
Deane said the measure could diminish immigrants' trust in police and make them reluctant to cooperate as witnesses. He also said denying recreational services could lead to a rise in the number of young people turning to crime.
Hispanic community activists have scheduled a weeklong boycott of all non-immigrant, non-Hispanic businesses in Prince William County beginning today and a one-day general labor strike in October.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was