Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (3)
Deputies complete immigration training
Three deputies in the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Gang Intelligence Unit have completed training to allow them to start checking the immigration status of individuals detained for felonies, the Sheriff's Office announced July 18.
The training, which wrapped up July 11 and was conduced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, provided the deputies information on immigration and constitutional law, ethics and racial profiling issues, the Sheriff's Office said.
The deputies will be able to start the deportation process if an illegal immigrant is arrested in Loudoun.
Sheriff Steve Simpson said his department will only screen the citizenship status of individuals suspected of committing a serious crime.
The agreement clearly states that our intent is to target those involved in gang or other serious criminal activity, Simpson said in a statement. This program cannot and will not be used for random checks or unsolicited searches."
So far in 2008, the Sheriff's Office has turned over 71 illegal immigrants suspected of committing a crime to federal authorities, compared to 107 all of last year.
In June, Simpson announced that his department had entered in an agreement with ICE allowing his deputies to enforce federal immigration laws.
ICE has similar agreements with about 60 jurisdictions across the country.
To view the Loudoun Sheriff's Office agreement with ICE, see www.loudoun.gov/sheriff.
Mr. Delgaudio:
I concur 100%. Thank you for being the only Loudoun BOS member to STAND-UP for the LEGAL citizens of Sterling Park and Loudoun County.
Letters To the Editor
Sunday, July 20, 2008;
Keeping Sterling Safe
Since my friends and neighbors first gave me the privilege of representing them on the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, I have been hard at work keeping Sterling Park a wonderful place to live for all of us.
I created an ordinance limiting the number of people in a home and sought to toughen it. I have fought to better enforce zoning rules against overgrown grass and solid waste. I have fought for a sheriff's substation to help Sterling combat gang crime, graffiti and other ills that are spilling over from Fairfax County. My public agenda items on the 287(g) program led the sheriff's department to adopt measures that will soon deport illegal alien criminals who threaten Sterling.
These are just a few of the many ideas, proposals and legislation I have offered in defense of Sterling. I've been virtually the only member of the board to offer solutions to a problem that is sweeping across all of Northern Virginia: illegal immigration. The blight problems that have spilled over from Fairfax and are spreading across Loudoun will not be solved until we toughen our zoning rules and enforce our immigration laws.
But as we have seen recently, there are those in Loudoun who react viciously when an elected official speaks frankly about illegal immigration's effects on our community. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that not only do my critics tend to be liberal activists or candidates rejected by Sterling voters, but not one of them has offered any solution of their own -- other than to force Sterling residents to offer their neighborhoods as illegal-alien sanctuaries.
If anyone should make an apology, it is those who criticize my ongoing fight to keep Sterling Park a wonderful place to live who should apologize to the people of Sterling for eight years of criticism and opposition.
Meanwhile, I will continue to fight to toughen and enforce our zoning and immigration laws. Sterling Park is too wonderful a place to live to leave in the hands of those who refuse to speak out against illegal immigration's effects on our community.
Eugene A. Delgaudio
Posted by PHenry
Report Offensive Content
Excellent Sheriff Simpson. NOW, ENFORCE OUR LAWS!!!
Posted by PHenry
Report Offensive Content
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
When these lines from an Emma Lazarus poem were inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in 1886, it quickly became a symbol of welcome for oppressed immigrants around the world. But more than 120 years later, does America still want “your tired, your poor?”
America is a nation built on the backs of immigrants. Loudoun County's prosperity, and the great majority of it's new homes, were built by immigrants as well.
One need not be an historical expert in the series of American Nativist movements in the past 150 years to see that immigrant groups have been repeatedly targeted as a threat to "real Americans" because they are ethnically different. The Nativist fearmongerers used this difference to isolate and exclude these new arrivals. They claim to be defenders of our nation.
Sadly, Loudoun County has it's fearmongerers and Nativists, those who claim the problems of our community are caused by the newcomers. As we address the problems of Loudoun, let us guard against stigmatizing ethnic groups under the guise of keeping law and order.
I believe in Lady Liberty's America. Let us continue to lift lamp of liberty and allow it to shine brightly over our nation! That is wherein our greatness lies.
Posted by LoudounPatriot
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.