OPINION:
Currently there are two local responses to illegal immigration in the Washington area. One is the enabling laxity of Rockville and the other is the increasing toughness of Prince William County. As the problem mounts, the number of communities doing nothing is shrinking. The District is now lurching in the direction of Rockville. It would be ill-advised to spend tax dollars on a day-labor center. The Fenty administration should not support this idea. The scofflaw hirers of illegal labor should not get city tax dollars, too. Mayor Fenty can still put us on a more responsible path.
This week, it emerged that city officials are finalizing two locations in Northeast as possible labor-center locations. D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. revealed it while calling for a temporary day-labor site this month to reduce crowds of workers near the Rhode Island Avenue Home Depot. Don’t buy it.
They’re not buying it in Virginia. In the last two weeks, Prince William and Loudoun counties have moved in a significantly tougher direction on illegals. Prince William will require police officers to inquire about immigration status in all arrests with probable cause to suspect a violation. It also moved to permit county officials to require proof of immigration status before administering public services, and ordered a review of public services for future restrictions for illegals. This is billed by some as the toughest local response in the country. Loudoun enacted a similar measure. Because its sheriff is an elected official, it stops short of ordering the status checks, instead urging the sheriff in such a direction and urging that the sheriff’s office pursue federal training for cooperative efforts to identify and detain illegals.
These moves reflect public frustration with unjustifiably subsidizing illegals and the scofflaws who hire them. It’s the scofflaws who deserve special scorn. These private citizens and companies are circumventing the system to hire illegals because they are too cheap to pay the going rate for legal labor.
The scofflaws must envy Montgomery County. There, the chieftains in Rockville, some of the most aggressively pro-illegal local officials in the country, pledge not to allow police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. They’ve instead busily abetted the law-breaking with day-labor centers which cater to whomever shows up, legal or otherwise, over repeated significant opposition by residents. This is what a locally sanctioned black market looks like.
The D.C. government should not be sanctioning a black market for illegal labor. Period. Much less should it spend city tax dollars on the idea.
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