Assembly more migrant friendly?

During the 2008 General Assembly session, lawmakers introduced 110 bills that critics deemed “anti-immigrant.”

During the 2009 session, there were only six such bills.

“Everyone knows 2009 was the year when Virginia passed a historic smoking ban,” said Tim Freilich, a Charlottesville-based immigrant advocate. “But once the smoke clears, 2009 will also be remembered as the year when Virginia’s elected officials realized they can’t win political points by attacking Virginia’s immigrants.”

Freilich, legal director of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program, spoke Thursday before Creciendo Juntas, an interagency network of officials who work on issues relating to the Charlottesville region’s Hispanic population. Freilich offered a rundown of legislation that was of particular interest to that community.

Of the few bills introduced this year that Freilich considered “anti-immigrant,” only two cleared the General Assembly and will become law.

One of these bills, HB 2580, increases the frequency with which state and local law enforcement officers may arrest and detain illegal immigrants with prior felony convictions who are waiting to be transferred into federal custody.

Both chambers of the General Assembly unanimously approved the bill. Freilich said the new law might result in Virginia contributing to the “disappearance” of immigrants in detention, in which they would be in state custody but without any state charges.

Another bill, HB 2473, clarifies that Virginia’s public libraries are “public places” for the purposes of loitering ordinances. Freilich said the law likely will be used to crack down on day laborers who congregate near libraries while looking for work.

Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, a vocal proponent of legislation that cracks down on illegal immigration, said in an interview Thursday that the library bill was needed because day laborers were hanging out on a Centreville library’s property and making patrons feel uncomfortable.

“They were urinating behind the building,” he said. “They were ruining the library.”

One new law that will be helpful for immigrants, Freilich said, would make human trafficking a felony in Virginia.

The bill, HB 2016, also forbids “intimidation” of immigrants, a definition that includes destroying, concealing, confiscating, withholding or threatening to withhold a passport, immigration document or other governmental identification, as well as threatening to report another as being illegally present in the United States.

Freilich’s office helps represent immigrants who have performed work but were never paid because of their legal status. After refusing to pay, he said, employers will often tell the immigrants to keep quiet, or they will notify federal immigration authorities.

“We hear that with shocking regularity in our office,” he said. “We’re thrilled that this will now be a crime.”

One major disappointment for immigrant advocates, Freilich said, was the defeat of a bill that would have protected crime victims and witnesses from inquiries by law enforcement officers about their legal status. The bill, SB 1436, cleared the Senate unanimously, but was killed in a House of Delegates subcommittee.

“This bill would have preserved the trust between the immigrant population and police,” Freilich said. “It’s a bill that would have made all of us safer.”

Freilich added that the bill would have been particularly helpful in cases of domestic violence when one or more members of a family is not a legal resident.

Freilich said this year’s sharp drop-off in “immigrant bashing” bills in the General Assembly shows that “Virginia has turned a corner.” He believes that shift was brought about because certain conservative-leaning members of the House of Delegates have decided that emphasizing anti-illegal immigration bills is politically risky.

This year’s drop-off in bills, Albo said, was actually because of new House of Delegates rules that allowed members to introduce no more than 15 bills during the 2009 session. Many of the illegal immigration-focused bills, he said, were not introduced because the Senate had already rejected previous versions a year earlier.

“It’s no use sticking a square peg in a round hole until the Senate changes,” he said.

Albo said he still thinks illegal immigration is one of the top five issues facing the state. It will gain a renewed prominence, he said, once President Barack Obama begins to tackle immigration reform in the coming months.

Albemarle County Supervisor Sally H. Thomas, who attended Thursday’s forum, said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has been a leader in convincing the state that prominent anti-immigrant legislation poses a risk to Virginia’s image as business friendly.

“It’ll be important for our next governor to share that view,” she said.