Moonhowlings

Sometimes it isn’t a real good idea to draw negative attention to one’s self.  Now that the UVA Report on Illegal Immigration has been finalized, it will somehow be interpreted and reinterpreted as the Chairman feels necessary. 

First off, YOUR UVA report that YOU, the taxpayers of PWC paid almost $400,000 for is now residing on the Chairman’s Virginia Rule of Law Act website.  You can even download it from there.  I suggest that the Corey Stewart  read the report cover to cover because he is getting some of the information wrong–dead wrong.

Here is what the report actually say about serous crime: 

Crime and arrest statistics reported by PWCPD do not, on the whole, show reductions that might be associated with the immigration policy, but they do show that serious violence, particularly aggravated assault, has dropped sharply in recent years. Considering that illegal immigrants account for only 3% of offenders currently arrested for aggravated assault, it seems unlikely that the policy was a major cause behind this trend, but it could have been a contributor. Finally, the views of officers, as measured in interviews and surveys, are somewhat mixed. Most feel that the policy has been effective in controlling crime and disorder related to illegal immigrants, but they are split as to whether the policy has reduced crime overall, and their general view is that immigrants do not contribute heavily to serious crime in PWC.

Additionally upon inspection of the crime statistics from the Prince William County Police website:

in 2007, there were 310 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles.  In 2008 there were 197 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles.  That is a reduction of 113 aggravated assaults or  a  36.5% decrease.  Yet the chair tells us there was a 47% decrease. 

Mr. Stewart needs to tell the truth and stop reworking the numbers to suit his own personal goals and agenda. 

Finally, in the BOCS meeting yesterday, Mr. Stewart and the other supervisors who voted in the affirmative seem to want the state to adopt PWC”s illegal immigration policy of status check post arrest.  The model legislation bill  (click to download) tells another story.  It is an IRLI form with Virginia Rule of Law Act written on it also.  It goes much further than the Prince William current  model and has the thumb print of F.A.I.R. and Mike Hethmon all over it.   It permits probable cause stops to check for immigration status as well as other things that just might get the state sued. 

I think most of us don’t want to end up like Arizona.  If Corey Stewart, Ken Cuccinelli  and F.A.I.R. have their way, that is exactly where the state of Virginia will end up. 

We commend the Prince William County police for the job they do, under the leadership of Chief Deane.  The PWC model that questions status of all people post arrest is a workable solution to the problem.  What works for our community might not work for another.  Let’s not dictate what others should do.  Millions of dollars were spent to get to where we are now.  Its time to move on without going through all of this again. And Virginians  certainly don’t need to be F.A.I.R. lab rats again.

 Corey Stewart is still hasn’t learned he isn’t a delegate to the General Assembly nor is he a state senator.  Perhaps he is going to run for either Senator Colgan’s seat or Del. Miller’s seat so he can introduce  his immigration reform.

The News & Messenger:

On Thursday, Stewart plans to announce multiple pieces of legislation for the General Assembly to con-sider, one of which is based on legislation passed recently in Oklahoma.

The first item would require all law enforcement officers in the state to check immigration status upon lawful detention if there is reasonable suspicion that the person detained is an illegal immigrant.

The second piece would be similar to legislation currently passed in Oklahoma that taxes international money transfers. The fee, which went into effect last July, is $5 on money transmissions up to $500, plus 1 percent of the amount in excess of $500. Consumers who file state tax returns can get a refund of the fees.

Businesses that fail to remit the fees to the Oklahoma Tax Commission face possible suspension of their licenses.

Stewart said this would adversely affect illegal immigrants who don’t have Social Security numbers and do not pay state taxes.

“A normal guy who pays state taxes, you are going to get money your money back,” Stewart said.

Read more…

Pay close attention to the very end.  How much more of an admission is needed before people will see that the Immigration Resolution in PWC was all about an election.  Hethmon admits it.  He brags about it.  FAIR is also involved in AZ.  Leopards do not change their spots! Note the arrow coming from FAIR to AZ. It had started then.

Prince William County was a field experiment.  The end of the video is critical. Around 2:30 Michael Hethmon says it is a political issue. They were scared that Republicans were going to lose in elections because of the Iraq War.

Rachel Maddow takes a look at founder John Taunton and the organization FAIR. John Taunton still sits on the board of FAIR. Maddow interviews a rather hostile Stein who is the president of FAIR.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Dan Stein is most defensive about some of the views associated with FAIR.

FAIR: The organization

John Taunton write up at SPLC

Not to open up old wounds but we would be remiss if we didn’t show part of an old thread (originally posted on Antibvbl.net on 4/19/08)  as a brutal reminder of what can happen when people with an agenda take control.  You might recognize some of the old characters like Dan Stein and Mike Hethmon.  If you have any questions for these gentleman you will find them in Arizona as we speak. 

It appears that the good people of PWC really were the immigration lab mice.   Should we expect a thank you note from Arizona?

 Just for Old Time’s Sake:

Press release:

Manassas Gets First Look at “9500 Liberty”
Award-winning Documentary Recounts 2007-2008 Immigration Culture War

MANASSAS, VA — Jan. 22, 2010
Mid-way through a national tour that has netted two film festival awards and two city proclamations, “9500 Liberty” returns to the place where it began when George Mason University’s Verizon Auditorium hosts a Tuesday 6:30 PM screening on Jan. 26.

This is the first time the feature length documentary has screened in Manassas, home to several of the film’s primary figures, including Greg Letiecq, a blogger and political activist who helped engineer the passage the nation’s most aggressive local ordinance designed to “crack down” on illegal immigration, and Gaudencio Fernandez, a building contractor who protested the law by erecting a series of banners on his property near the Old Town Manassas train station. The film reveals in dramatic detail how and why the controversial “probable cause” mandate for immigration status checks was repealed in April, 2008 by the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
6:30 PM
Verizon Auditorium, Occoquan Building
George Mason University, Prince William Campus
10900 University Boulevard
Manassas, VA 20110-2203
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Directors Eric Byler of Gainesville, VA and Annabel Park of Silver Spring, MD have traveled with the film to ten states in recent months, with a host of upcoming screenings that include Hampden-Sydney, VA, Ohio, Montana, and Nebraska. In February, “9500 Liberty” will be presented to Members of Congress at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday’s screening, presented with Spanish subtitles, is the opening night for the Immigration and Human Rights Cinema series, hosted by George Mason University and the local interfaith group Unity in the Community. It will be followed by a Q & A discussion with the filmmakers and representatives of the Prince William County Police Department, including a Spanish speaking Officer.

“9500 Liberty” won Best Documentary at the Charlotte Film Festival last September, and the Audience Award at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November. The Mayor of Austin, Texas and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors both issued proclamations commending the film prior to public screenings. The filmmakers expect to announce a cable television premiere and a DVD release date in coming weeks.

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Oy, vey. I thought the Tea Parties were a way to revitalize the Republican Party. Apparently, they’ve opted instead to shoot themselves in the foot by inviting the anti-immigrant organization – Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR) that has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center(SPLC). The SPLC is a civil rights organization that was recently in the news after they correctly identified the Holocaust shooter as a white supremacist.

According to the Tea Party website, Jay O’Brien will be the Master of Ceremonies at the Prince William Tea Party. Excuse me, but wasn’t this guy removed from office by voters during the last election cycle? Also, noticeably absent from the agenda are any local politicians. Will Corey Stewart boycott because of the FAIR connection? What about Tito the Builder, who spoke at the last Tea Party? How can individuals accept the Tea Party movement now that they have decided to join forces with this anti-immigrant organization? And how very disappointing that Bob Marshall would agree to speak at an event with FAIR.

Read more…

S.P.L.C. Receives Kudos

The Editorial Board of the New York Times gave kudos to the Southern Poverty Law Center for their report “The Nativist Lobby,” which was released on Tues. S.P.C.L. examines the connects between three Washington-based organizations that have advocated for severe restrictions to immigration from Hispanic countries as well as restrictions for those who are here already.

The three groups examined are ones you will be very familiar with:
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies and Numbers USA — a lobbying group, think tank, and grassroots organizer, respectively. In fact, these organizations all had a hand in policy setting when the Immigration Resolution was ushered in. The criticism is strong.

Read more…

Nativist Letiecq Attempts to Intimidate Numerous Members of PWC Community

Just days after Help Save Manassas was classified as “an extremist organization that employs hateful rhetoric” by the Anti-Defamation League, the man responsible for earning this classification for his followers has sunk to a new low.

A private email I wrote eleven days ago found its way to Greg Letiecq, who has posted a new thread on his blog intending to intimidate and persecute, not only me, but everyone who was on the email list.

In it, I questioned the judgment of Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup, who tomorrow will ask his fellow Supervisors to vote to approve his appointment of Robert Duecaster to the Prince William County Strategic Goals Task Force. I have made no secret of my feelings about Duecaster’s racist writings, or his infamous outbursts before our Board of Supervisors (see previous thread). But now Letiecq is trying to intimidate and defame those who received the email (many of whom did not respond).

Supervisor Stirrup’s apparent trust in Duecaster — the only man in this county who has personally threatened the Board of Supervisors with more hatred and rage than Letiecq himself — is just one symptom of the toxicification of Prince William County at the hands of Letiecq, his blog, and his extremist organization. The Center for American Progress has documented how intimidation and incitement of racial conflict are common methods of attack for anti-immigrant organizations.

The persecution began last year, targeting the Hispanic community, though often worded to focus on “illegal” immigrants rather than the Hispanic community in general. But it did not stop when many members of the Hispanic community left the county. It did not stop when our county’s Citizen Satisfaction Survey revealed that both the Hispanic and the African American communities have lost trust in county government and the police force.

For more than a year, Letiecq has been targeting anyone who dares to oppose his relentless attempts to dominate our county government by exploiting his influence over Supervisor Stirrup and Chairman Corey Stewart. Now, he is not only targeting those who criticize him, he is targeting anyone who associates with his critics, or thinks about joining them.

Letiecq has made a habit of attacking me. But he knows I am not intimidated. He knows I will stand up to him.

Many of the those who received my personal email have not criticized Letiecq or taken any action to challenge his greed for power. By publishing their names without permission and “identifying” them, he has violated their privacy in a despicable attempt to make them appear guilty of some infraction, and bully them into silence.

I for one am not afraid of Greg Letiecq’s Neo-McCarthyism. And I am not afraid to say I oppose the appointment of Robert Duecaster to our county’s Strategic Goals Task Force. But more importantly, I oppose the persecution tactics Letiecq has employed to unduly influence this county government, its leaders, and its citizens.

P.S. Question for Greg Letiecq: Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

From FAIR’s website, where they once again accuse legal immigrants of causing economic hardship on localities. How did Corey allow himself to become a tool for this organization? So, if we believe Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR), then Corey’s own wife, who is a legal permanent resident is to blame for straining resources and causing sprawl!

Can you imagine these organizations like FAIR & Immigration Reform Law Institute(IRLI) claim to be for legal immigration but at the same time have their representatives write books like – “The Case Against Immigration” which is currently being hauked by Mark Krikorian from IRLI.

Listen, if you want to write a book like that fine, just don’t lie to me and tell me that you’re pro-immigrant!

Around the Country

Virginia

The northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. have become a hotbed of immigration reform activism in recent years. In 2006, the city of Herndon voted out of office all but one local official who had supported a day labor hiring site for illegal aliens. More recently, Prince William County has attracted national attention by instituting local immigration enforcement policies and cooperating closely with federal immigration authorities. A new report by the University of Virginia demonstrates why local residents are so concerned about mass immigration. The report finds that one in five northern Virginia residents is now foreign-born and statewide the immigrant population has doubled since 1980. This rapid influx of both government sanctioned and illegal immigrants has strained local resources and contributed to population driven sprawl in the region.

According to Chairman Stewart, he supports more legal immigration both in skilled and unskilled areas. Additionally that Stewart acknowledges that there is a national immigration problem and not solely in the area of enforcement is a step in the right direction. The fact that our immigration policy is reviewed about once a decade indicates there’s a problem. We have fluctuating job markets that need addressing from year to year. Consider, how could a policy implemented during the ‘dot-com’ bubble still be relevant today? That immigration policies aren’t reviewed more frequently is a big part of the problem.

I would however strongly disagree that the undocumented are any more likely to commit crimes than the average citizen. Of course, one inevitably will point to the 20% housed in the local jail as ‘evidence’ that this is the case. However, those statistics were compiled after they have begun detaining ‘illegals’ so using those numbers present an inaccurate picture.

And just to be accurate, Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR) has be named a HATE GROUP and the President of Help Save Manassas – Greg Letiecq has been named a NATIVIST.

First of all, thanks to SecondAlamo for the original comment about Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS).

The youtube video comes from CAPS which is a subsidiary or off-spin of Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR).  Again, FAIR’s founder and still current board member is John Tanton.  Tanton’s primary driving factor in this debate appears to be controlling population growth.  Tanton also founded Zero Population Growth and is interested along with FAIR’s CEO of having net negative population growth.  In fact, recently FAIR CEO Dan Stein confirmed his assertions that a good population for the United States would be 150 million.  Folks, that means half of us would have to disappear.  So, for all those who think it’s just about ‘illegals’ - think again.

Persons of Faith should take note, in my estimation, after the ‘illegals’ and the legals, we(persons of faith) are the next segment who would be perceived to be ‘over-populating’.  This no longer seems to be a far-fetched notion so persons of faith take note.

It’s a little long folks but it’s worth the watch. Tell me someone, is this woman undergoing cancer treatment? Does she have alopecia? or is she just a skin head? I don’t know does anyone have any idea?

Some people have a difficult time accepting that the federal government might have some ’paperwork problems.’  Why is this so hard to believe?  Is it because the federal government has done such a wonderful job in taking care of things like finding Bin Laden.  Because it’s now seven years later and they still haven’t found him.  Or is it because the federal government did such a good job of taking care of our citizens after Hurricane Katrina, does that instill some confidence in their abilities.  No?  Well, then how about the Department of Housing and Urban Development, surely the affordable housing that’s available, and our strong fraud-proof mortgage system is evidence that they are doing their jobs.  No? But surely the Department of Transportation has done a lot to decrease your commute times and the FAA makes sure that your flights arrive and depart on-time.  Then there’s the IRS which Huckabee suggested replacing with a fair-tax system but the same attorneys that wrote the tax code probably had a part in writing our immigration code which is equally as convoluted.  Do I need to continue?

Read more…

This video was distributed by Supervisor Stirrup’s office prior to the July 2007 resolution, presumably to garnish support for the ‘Immigration Resolution’.  It appears to be a very popular piece of propoganda in the anti-immigrant debate but to use it for justifying in an ‘anti-illegal’ debate by individuals claiming to be ‘pro-immigrant’ is a concern.

It appears that the underlying factor motivating many people especially with respect to the Federation for American Immigration Reform(FAIR) is a concern about ‘population growth control’.  This video never identifies the speaker or the organization of which he represents but his name is Roy Beck, Executive Director of NumbersUSA.

 In terms of disputing the claims made in the video, the following was stated -

The gumball thing was cute but his charts are total b.s. His “red” dangerous population growth attributable to immigrants includes the descendents of immigrants who arrived post-1970. Descendents aren’t immigrants. By 2050, the great grandchildren of 1970s immigrants are included in the red portion. Are the great grandchildren of immigrants immigrants themselves? No. Are they part of the “immigration problem?” I myself am the great grandchild of an immigrant who came from Ireland 90 years ago. Am I part of the “immigration problem?” If he selected 1790 for his arbitrary start date rather than 1970, I’m sure about 98% of the American population would be in the red area.

Also, in the very beginning, he talks about how our infrastructure has had to double because immigration has doubled the population growth #. Immigration may have doubled our growth (maybe, i’m not sure), but it didn’t double the entire population (which = the demand for services). The demand for roads is growing astronomically not because there are tons of new immigrants on the roads, but all of us drive much more now and over greater distances now than we did 30 years ago.

Also, as he mentioned, about 200 million Americans are missing from his chart, in a green area you’ll have to imagine below where he cuts it off. It makes his eye-popping order of magnitude a bit exaggerated.

I’m not saying that the guy is entirely wrong in what his point is. But it’s not the most convincing argument, and if you aren’t distracted by the pretty colors and cute gumballs you’ll see that it’s not at all objective and presented in a manner of exaggeration to get a reaction.

Again, one of the problems w/the red line is that it includes people who are not ‘immigrants’.  The people who are not ‘immigrants’ are descendants of immigrants.  The red line represents future population increase in the U.S. attributable to current immigration presumably both legal & illegal.  My question is why is it that he is not considered a descendant of an immigrant?  For example, if we were to go back to 1700 and start the red line there, then just about everyone in the U.S. would be descendants of post-1700 immigrants.

In my opinion this video poses many difficulties and should not be taken at face value.