Moonhowlings

From the Manassas News and Messenger:

Published: August 14, 2009

The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday filed a motion to dismiss charges against four Hispanic men arrested for loitering near the Coverstone apartment complex in Manassas earlier this year.

In the papers, filed in Prince William General District Court, the ACLU challenges Prince William County’s loitering ordinance, saying the law is “unconstitutionally vague,” and allows police to target “disfavored groups.”

According to the court documents filed by the ACLU, Alberto Miguel Arias, 35, Juan Canseco-Rodriguez, 51, Jesus Velasquez Lopez, 43, and Isreal Lopez Amador, 36, were arrested for loitering on May 5.

According to the ACLU, the men were part of a larger group of men standing on the sidewalk near a bus stop outside Coverstone Apartments, where they lived, when police officers approached them on May 5.

The police officers asked each of the men for identification. The men who were unable to prove they lived in the apartment complex were charged with trespassing and the men who could prove they were apartment complex residents were charged with loitering, according to the ACLU.

Prince William County police late Friday said they had no information available about the case.

According to online court documents, Arias, Canseco-Rodriguez, Lopez, and Amador were all charged with loitering.

According to the Prince William County code, loitering is a Class1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500.

Nancy Lyall of Mexicans Without Borders said the four men charged with loitering contacted the group shortly after their arrests.

Nancy Lyall of Mexicans Without Borders said the four men charged with loitering contacted the group shortly after their arrests.

“We don’t understand the reason for the arrests,” she said. “They were standing in a public area.”

Lyall said the group received several complaints of police arresting day laborers in the Coverstone area this spring, but hadn’t heard of any recent arrests under the county’s loitering ordinance.

“We believe these individuals were targeted because of their ethnicity,” stated ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg in a statement.

The four men are due in Prince William General District Court on Sept. 1 for a hearing on the loitering charges.

I decided this one couldn’t be summarized. Was this predictable or what?

Does anyone else wonder who else was involved in this case? I drive in that area frequently. I always see Hispanic men. I never see cops or people being arrested.

Stay tuned. This case should bring out the hounds of Hell and some lively red circles beating the war drums.

Meanwhile, who pays for this? Just askin’. I know who I would like to send the bill to.

In 2007, Prince William County Supervisors passed the “Immigration Resolution” which stated in part that “illegal immigration has been determined to cause economic hardship and lawlessness.” Has our outcome supported the assertion that ‘more illegals cause more crime and worse economic conditions’ with the converse being ‘less illegals therefore less crime and a better economy’?

According to the Prince William County Crime Report for 2008, crime now, one year after the resolution’s passage crime is slightly increased. This effectively ends our 5 year decreasing crime rate trend which obviously must have existed during our “influx of illegals.”

In financial terms, can we state that our economic hardships have lessened since the introduction of the resolution? Prince William County now leads the state and ranks top in the nation in foreclosures, and our home values have dropped 32%. The neighborhood issues that existed prior to the passage of the resolution are resurfacing as foreclosed homes bought by real estate investors are turned into rental properties. And our County budget is facing deep cuts this year with an equally dismal prospect for next.

Many predicted dire consequences but Supervisors refused to heed their warnings. Probably nobody said it better than Oklahoma Republican State Representative Shane Jett, who opposed similar legislation in his state, when he stated:

“[the passage of these types of legislations] will be the single most destructive economic disaster since the Dust Bowl,”

Now with almost one full year of crime figures, foreclosure numbers, home values, and tax revenue numbers compiled can we definitively state that the assertions in the resolution were completely unfounded?  Strictly speaking, we had lower crime rates and a better economy when the ‘illegals’ were here.  Will the status quo remain, as Stewart continues to assert that the resolution is working well?

Obviously this issue has been the single most divisive issue to happen here.  Will Supervisors heed Dr. Fuller’s advice, and change course?  Or, are they content with allowing Chairman Stewart to continue down this path hoping that voters will only hold him responsible?

The Board will have both a 2:oopm & 7:30pm session today. The main items on the agenda are the 2008 Citizens Satisfaction Survey Results and the Illegal Immigration Status report.

Here’s the agenda for the meeting.

Here you go.

9500Liberty Special Screening
Thursday August 7th • 6:30 PM
James J. McCoart Administration Building • Occoquan Room
1 County Complex Court • Woodbridge, VA

6:30 PM
Immigration Policy Change in Prince William County (6 minutes)
Followed by a 20 minute Q/A about PWC’s current immigration policy

7:00 PM
9500Liberty Special Screening August Update (80 minutes)
Followed by a one hour discussion and Q/A

Added scenes will include Chris Pannell, a former Help Save Manassas Executive Board Member, explaining why she left Help Save Manassas, the first "Save Prince William County’s Economy " Party, and Chief Deane’s official response to the Letiecq/Stewart charges of treason before the Board of Supervisors April 1, 2008.

Chairman Stewart is on the press circuit again ‘touting the benefits’ of the ‘Immigration Resolution’. And, this time instead of his usual anecdotal stories about shorter lines at emergency rooms, or drops in ESOL students, he suggests there is a connection between a lower crime rate and the Immigration Resolution. Frankly, it’s laughable.

According to the DC Examiner, Stewart’s theory is that crime rates drop when ‘illegals’ leave. The converse of this statement being that the crime rate increases when ‘illegals’ arrive. It’s a pretty simple hypothesis and easily verifiable. If this hypothesis is true, as we have this supposed influx of ‘illegals’ that purportedly necessitated some action on our part, we should see clear statistical evidence witnessed by higher crime rates in the years preceding the resolution.

So, let’s review, according to the article, in 2004 the crime rate per thousand is 24.5, then in 2005, as more ‘illegals’ are ‘flooding into the area bringing their lawlessness and economic hardship with them’, using Stewart’s logic a higher crime rate is excepted but that’s not what happens! Prince William County experiences a drop in crime equal to that of the drop between 2006 and 2007. Additionally, it’s not just a drop from 2004 to 2005 but AGAIN from 2005 to 2006, then the same from 2006 to 2007! Very simply, Stewart’s theory is proven incorrect. The resolution can not reasonably be referenced as the reason why the crime rate has once again decreased for the 4th year in a row.

Part I

Part II

ABC News 7 Report concerning the changes made to the ‘Immigration Resolution’ which will now check status of only those arrested and do away with the ‘probable cause’ part of the resolution.

Unfortunately, his predictions about what will happen in Prince William County are starting to come to fruition.

The trust factor in the immigrant community is eroding which could translate into an increase level of unsolved crimes. Perceptions of racism have increased just as suggested. We have a more divisive community with more radicalized, polorized camps which cause both groups to be more difficult to deal with. Calls are coming into the police station for things that are trivial in nature. For instance, an immigrant woman phoned in to complain that a police cruiser was following her to closely and she felt intimidated by this action. Just as he projected – there will be higher taxes.

He goes on to make further predictions that have yet to been realized, but if we continue down this path, these scenarios seem entirely plausible. He suggests that there could be a surge in crime by disenfranchised youths and angry immigrants. Additionally cases of vigilantism could occur which will further erode trust. Overall, his forecast has been correct, which causes me concern for these other items which he envisions could happen.

Chairman Stewart repeatedly claims that the resolution is intended to capture criminals who have committed crimes on top of violating federal immigration law.  No problem with that right?  Deport the criminals.  But what about police inquiring into the status of someone playing music too loud?  Surely that couldn’t happen, but yet according to the DC Examiner it has.  Claims that there would be no Gestapo knocking on your door asking for your papers are now suspect.

And so it begins… are the prostitutes victims or are they criminals?  Yesterday’s Post article, Immigration-Linked Prostitution Cases Pose Challenge; Pr. William Crackdown Highlights Complex Legal Issues states -

…these immigration-related cases raise complex questions about the interplay of local and federal law and are likely to pose special challenges for Prince William County police in the push against illegal immigration that began this week.

The police department has said it will treat illegal immigrants who are criminals differently from those who are crime victims. But in prostitution cases, the women involved might be both.

These types of cases are going to cause a nightmare for our local police who will have to add extra time to investigating in order to ascertain which of these two categories suspects fall into – are they victims or criminals. As word gets out about the differences between the two groups one could expect to see a lot less ‘criminals’ and a lot more ‘victims’ being caught.