Albo Must Go

State Del David B. Albo [(R-Abuser Fees)] argues it is not the highly educated who have turned Fairfax blue. "My bet is that it's those who are on food stamps and government services who tend to be more Democratic," he said.

Legislative Window Dressing Won't Fix the Problem
The General Assembly has been playing "Let's pretend." And it's making somebody look foolish. A law the legislature passed earlier this year just took effect, requiring local jails to check the immigration status of any inmate who's foreign-born or not a U.S. citizen.

Perhaps legislators think this will make a difference in reducing illegal immigration. In which case they're foolish. Or they think voters are so thick or inattentive that they'll buy the illusion that, by passing such laws, legislators are on this problem. If voters do, they're foolish.

Requiring local jailers to ask every prisoner about their birthplace and citizenship, to verify with federal officials the immigration status of those who aren't native-born or citizens, and to include the information in the criminal history file, doesn't accomplish much. It isn't going to get any more immigrants deported.

In Virginia, most local sheriffs were already reporting to Immigration and Customs Enforcement the names of inmates they though were here illegally. Maybe they didn't report everyone, but only those who committed a major offense. By and large, though, they didn't think much of the response they got from ICE.

Local jails can send over as many names as they want, but ICE has only so much manpower to go through all the steps to get someone deported. The agency detains only a small fraction of the people police report to it, and officials have made it clear they're going to focus on felons. As well they should, since resources are limited.

And will continue to be. It would be hard to imagine the resources required to track down and deport the 12 million people said to be in this country illegally, or the kind of police-state mentality that would prevail if sufficient resources were allocated and swung into action.

So it's likely that illegal immigrants who commit misdemeanors - and even some felons - aren't going anywhere. So much for the claim by the bill's co-sponsor and State Crime Commission Chairman Dave Albo, R-Fairfax, that, "With our new law, these people who are here illegally should be afraid of living anywhere in Virginia."

Do legislators think voters are naive enough to fall for the idea that this kind of window dressing makes a dent in a national problem?

Effective solutions to immigration lie on two fronts. First, better enforcement by federal agencies - at the border, and keeping track of people who come in legally and overstay visas.

And second, a recognition that in some areas, local economics run the way citizens want them to - with essential services provided at the prices they want to pay - because immigrants come to do the jobs. If citizens don't want that, they need to find ways to get Americans or legal immigrants to do them, which might involve revising welfare programs that reduce the need to work, and paying more for some jobs - and understanding that higher pay could drive up the prices they pay.

From a broader perspective, we face a problem of legal immigration. The number of visas that our country is willing to offer immigrants - in the thousands - is laughably, pathetically short of the demand, which is in the millions.

Passing wishful-thinking laws and taking down names won't solve the problem. They can't. They might make some foolish people feel good, but they don't get at the causes of the problem. Daily Press (Aug. 1, 2008).