Anti-immigrant bills hurt Virginia

Last week, state Sen. Thomas K. Norment talked eloquently about how legislation under consideration at the General Assembly is affecting how the commonwealth is seen across the nation and, indeed, throughout the world. As Norment pointed out, Virginia is on the verge of the Jamestown 2007 celebration - our 400th birthday party to which we have invited the world. Norment's concern was that the so-called low-rider pants legislation had exposed Virginia to international ridicule and distracted the legislature from the important work before it. There is other legislation pending this session, however that could do more harm to our international image than the humorous stories in newspapers and "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" jokes generated by the baggy pants bill. The sobering fact is that the legislative docket this session is jammed with anti-immigrant legislation that will adversely affect our economy, expose ethnic minorities in the commonwealth to discrimination, and discourage foreign tourists and companies from coming to or doing business here.

• Bills have been offered this session that would have denied drivers' licenses to people who didn't speak or read English (while making them available to the "illiterate"),
• authorize police officers to stop citizens on the street and demand identification,

• give added powers to local police to stop and detain aliens without a warrant, and
  
• require people to prove lawful presence to gain access to the courts, professional and commercial licenses, wedding licenses, death certificates and other vital records.
• Still pending are bills that would make Virginia the first and only state in the nation to deny undocumented immigrant children the opportunity to attend state community and four-year colleges, even at out-of-state rates;
  
• require everyone (citizens and noncitizens alike) to prove that they are lawfully present in the United States before receiving Medicaid or social services benefits; and
  
• deny worker's compensation benefits to anyone who is not legally present at the time of a workplace injury or death. [more]
• Meanwhile, Virginia Republican Lawmakers Won't Ban Guns from Libraries [more] and [more]
• Virginia Senate kills bill on fair-housing law [more]