Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

Over the past two years, towns and suburbs around the country (Hazleton, Pa.; Farmers Branch, Texas) have cracked down on illegal immigration with local ordinances. These laws are usually designed to make it hard for illegal immigrants to find jobs or rent homes, and they have had mixed success. Now, it looks like the Washington, D.C. suburb of Herndon, Va., is getting a little more creative.

In Herndon, part of well-to-do Fairfax County, a battle has been raging since 2005 over Hispanic day laborers. After Herndon proposed an official site for day laborers to congregate, officials had to unplug the phones at Town Hall to avoid a flood of angry calls. Two years later, Herndon closed down the day labor site, after a judge ruled that the town could not bar illegal immigrants from using it. The day laborers, who typically work in the region’s thriving construction industry, returned to the streets.

Now, the Fairfax Times reports Herndon Councilman Dennis Husch is proposing a series of measures designed to keep day laborers off town streets. These measures include confiscating bicycles chained to signs and trees, revoking convenience stores’ licenses to sell alcohol, and even removing pay phones, which day laborers use to find work. Perhaps most unusual would be the establishment of a “‘pedestrian safety zone’ that would prohibit standing along Elden Street between Herndon Parkway and Sterling Road.”

Preventing people from standing on the street? Will that protect Herndon from illegal immigrants, or do you think it’s going too far? Share your comments below. And check out our News21 reports on immigration crackdowns in Pennsylvania and Texas).