As I mentioned in A Nation of Outlaws, a non-profit organization called Judicial Watch planned to file a lawsuit against Herndon, Virginia, to stop the town from building an illegal “day labor” center for illegal aliens. (Photo from Help Save Herndon)
The group filed suit last Thursday (PDF copy of complaint). I’m currently working on the second part of the op-ed, which will highlight this and other efforts to stop the expenditure of public funds for illegal purposes.
Did you know that it’s against federal law to enter the country without proper documentation, to give public benefits to non-citizens in the country without proper documentation, and to employ non-citizens in the country without proper documentation? Of course you do, and so do illegal aliens who cross the border, government agencies that dole out taxpayers’ money and unscrupulous employers who do the hiring. Knowing that these laws exist and witnessing their violation every day is strikingly incongruous, and it’s been nagging at me for a long time.
What is the purpose of federal immigration laws, and if they’ve outlived the purpose, why not just change the laws? I will try to find the answers.
The Washington Post has a story about the lawsuit, and they make sure readers know that Judicial Watch, the group challenging Herndon’s illegal enterprise, is “conservative”:
A conservative legal group sued the town of Herndon yesterday in an attempt to block an official site where day laborers can wait to be hired, saying the plan would attract immigrants who are in the country illegally….
“We want to shut down the day laborer site,” Tom Fitton, president of the organization, said yesterday. “This day laborer site undermines and violates federal immigration law, and it can’t go forward.”
Herndon Mayor Michael L. O’Reilly released a statement saying Judicial Watch had “recruited” residents as plaintiffs to further its agenda of influencing federal immigration policy.
“Clearly the national immigration issue needs to be handled by Congress and the executive branch and not by small local governments such as Herndon,” he said. “Whether or not a regulated site opens in Herndon will have no impact on the national issue.” (Also see the Washington Times)
Mayor O’Reilly is a fool. Influencing government policy is exactly what citizens are supposed to do. It’s why we elect people to legislate, to write laws, for crying out loud. Is he saying that citizens should sit quietly by while their money is being used for illegal purposes?
When it comes to recognizing the burden of illegal immigration on local governments, O’Reilly is no fool. He knows the federal government does not enforce immigration law. I spoke with someone at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and I couldn’t get a straight answer. The spokesperson kept telling me I’d have to speak to a “local official” about the day labor center when I specifically asked her what ICE had to say about what Herndon planned to do.
All she’d say on the record was, “We continue to work closely with law enforcement partners to enforce immigration laws, and I don’t have anything to say about a local issue.”
I’ll just keep calling until I find someone who does have something to say.
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Lots of related links at For the Cause, FAIR…
FOXNews.com’s two-part series on illegal immigration: Impatience Grows for Immigration Reforms and Day Labor Centers Stir Controversy Throughout Country…
