The Herndon Town Council last night approved the creation of a formal, taxpayer-funded gathering spot for day laborers, saying the chaos in a 7-Eleven parking lot where the workers now gather would only worsen if it did nothing. The council members, in a 5 to 2 vote that several called the hardest decision in their public service, said they did not want to sanction illegal immigration, the chief concern of opponents of the center. Many of the workers the facility would serve are in the United States illegally from Mexico and Central America. But council members said they were helpless in the face of what they called a federal failure to police U.S. borders. They said it was their responsibility to bring order to a neighborhood nuisance that had become the town's most divisive issue in recent history. "Here we sit, expecting this local government to resolve a national immigration problem that is out of our control," council member Harlon Reece said before the vote. The vote, which came after the fifth hearing on the issue since last month, culminated a tense summer in the small town in northwest Fairfax County, which has been drawn into a national debate on immigration policy, human rights and the role of local governments in international issues. Project Hope and Harmony, a social services agency, was seeking a permit to build and operate a worker center near the Loudoun County line. The approval means the town will help fund the center with $175,000 in public money. The dissenters said a vote to spend public money on a laborer site would amount to an endorsement of illegal immigration. Still, council member Dennis D. Husch, who opposed the measure along with Ann V. Null, denounced the region's representatives in Congress. "Shame on them for their cowardly retreat," Husch said. In recent weeks, radio talk shows, cable news and Internet blogs fumed that taxpayer money would help immigrants who might be in the country illegally. They advised rounding up such immigrants instead. Some supporters of the site countered with accusations of racism. But at its core, the debate reflected the struggle in Herndon and other Washington suburbs to integrate a steady flow of new immigrants -- those here legally and illegally. "This has been a horrendously difficult issue," Mayor Michael O'Reilly said. He said every worker has a constitutional right to "stand on a street corner whether they have documents or not." As a condition of the permit granted to Project Hope, the nonprofit group must distribute information to contractors telling them that hiring undocumented immigrants is illegal. But Project Hope officials said they will not ask the laborers to disclose their status. The speakers last night -- the carry-over crowd from a seven-hour hearing Tuesday in Herndon's small council chambers -- were evenly split about the proposed site as they testified before the television cameras that lined the aisles. Opponents from Herndon and as far away as Colorado called for stepped-up police enforcement, legislative changes and an end to the hiring of undocumented workers. Some homeowners said the day laborers are sinking property values. And they said that by using public money to help the workers, Herndon would be committing a crime by supporting illegal immigration. Supporters cited the biblical exhortation to love thy neighbor and begged the council not to allow the community to turn its back on its less-fortunate members. They said the problem is not immigration but a neighborhood conflict over noise, littering and safety. "This controversy will not disappear if we . . . maintain the status quo," said Stef Woods, a lawyer for Just Neighbors, a group that helps immigrants. Each side blamed the other for the animosity in the town, where foreign-born residents now make up 38 percent of the 22,000 residents. "I am not a bigot," said Cathy McNary of Herndon, whose family is from the Philippines. "I cleaned bathrooms. . . . But I chose Herndon to raise my family because it was a town known for safety. Now it is known as a place where the day laborers may be." Undercurrents of race and history resonated on both sides. One speaker Tuesday night testified that the day laborers represent the "comeuppance of the white man" over the conquest of Native Americans hundreds of years ago. Several day laborers also stepped forward to plead for an organized place to gather. "We want a secure site, because our lives are in danger when the contractors leave us on the road," Eric Arauz said through an interpreter. "We are honest workers, not criminals, like they say."

Full Link

ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?

Just so we're clear.  They pay no taxes yet are getting benifits from teh general tax pool, right?

Quoted: ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME? Just so we're clear.  They pay no taxes yet are getting benifits from teh general tax pool, right?

You got it. Trust me I in no fucking way agree with this shit

I hope it becomes an INS hangout.

Maybe it's time to hang out and start taking pictures of the illegals, and any contractors who hire them, and start a web page, or try to get the media involved...

I was listening to this story on the radio this morning.  Apparantly they had a public city council meeting where the citizens were OVERWHELMINGLY against the shelter

So much for representative government.  

GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A *BITCH*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



It is shit like this that has put me on the path to restructuring my life in such a way that I contribute the absolute minimum in taxes and fees to the Government.

As long the politicians can draw from an essentially unlimited supply of money from the citizens, shit like this will happen.

I'd rather live a spartan life than willingly hand over MY MONEY that the Government uses to not only take away my freedoms but turns around and hands it out to ILLEGAL FUCKING INVADERS so that they may have "a better life".

Wait until Judicial Watch files their lawsuit.

This IS NOT a done deal yet.

For Immediate Release
Aug 16, 2005 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


Day Laborer Site is Designed to Facilitate Illegal Activity

Statement to the Herndon Town Council by Tom Fitton




(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton offered the following statement today to the Herndon Town Council as it considered a proposal by “Project Hope and Harmony” to operate a taxpayer-funded “Day Laborer Site” in the Town of Herndon:



“Thank you, Mayor and members of the Town Council.  I’m Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.  Judicial Watch is honored to represent concerned Herndon citizens who adamantly oppose this proposed use of taxpayer monies for illegal purposes.  They are prepared to sue the Town of Herndon if you approve this site and they will go to court to stop the Town from violating the law.  We sent you a letter to this effect on August 12, and I request that the letter be made part of the public record.



“The law is clear.  Can one hire undocumented workers?  No, it is illegal.  Can one hire someone without ensuring they are legally eligible to work here?  No, it is illegal.



“It is illegal to ‘encourage or induce an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law.’  It is illegal to aid or abet the commission of such acts.



“Can a town expend taxpayer monies or provide support to facilitate such illegal activities?  Of course not.  This proposed site is designed to facilitate illegal activity:  the illegal hiring of illegal aliens.



“So, can the Town Council approve this plan?  For the Town Council to recommend this plan would be illegal under federal law.  But it would also be illegal under Virginia law.  Any town support for this site would constitute an ultra vires act, since no public official has any inherent power to authorize or facilitate unlawful acts using taxpayer funds.  Support for this site is not an option.



“The Town of Herndon has allowed illegal activity to go on unchecked at the 7-Eleven and elsewhere.  The solution is not local taxpayer support for this illegal activity.  The area around the 7-Eleven is the illegal day labor equivalent of a red-light district.  Law enforcement is in order, not taxpayer subsidies.



“The Planning Commission has seen reason and rejected this ill-conceived plan.  Under the laws of this Commonwealth, and under the laws of the United States, you must also decline to support this proposal.  Otherwise, Judicial Watch and its Herndon resident clients will see the Town of Herndon in court.



“Thank you.”

Quoted: I hope it becomes an INS hangout.

I have some extra DHS- Federal Officer raid tshirts, anyone wanna borrow one and hang out in front of the site with me?

Quoted: Quoted: I hope it becomes an INS hangout. I have some extra DHS- Federal Officer raid tshirts, anyone wanna borrow one and hang out in front of the site with me?

"LA Migra!"  

Quoted: Quoted: I hope it becomes an INS hangout. I have some extra DHS- Federal Officer raid tshirts, anyone wanna borrow one and hang out in front of the site with me?

Sure....I'd do it just to see them run into traffic....

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I hope it becomes an INS hangout. I have some extra DHS- Federal Officer raid tshirts, anyone wanna borrow one and hang out in front of the site with me? Sure....I'd do it just to see them run into traffic....

good point,  although it would still give them jobs.......as HOOD ORNAMENTS

The Herndon Town Council last night approved the creation of a formal, taxpayer-funded gathering spot for day laborers, saying the chaos in a 7-Eleven parking lot where the workers now gather would only worsen if it did nothing.

Yes, Einsteins, it will worsen if you do nothing. Instead of rewarding these criminals, how about pressing trespassing charges on them? After all, 7-11 IS private property.

un freaking believable....   Is this council an elected body?

this is for ILLEGAL ALIENS

sad day for the place I was born and raised.
I now refer to the town that was Herndon as “Hernduras”

I wish politicians would realize that every time they offer amnesty, a guest worker program, fail to enforce the borders, or anything else that encourages illegal aliens to enter this country, they dilute what it means to be an American Citizen.  We keep absorbing millions of people who have no national identity and no loyalty to anything other than the fact that they aren't in Mexico anymore.  

Quoted: this is for ILLEGAL ALIENS

Illegal is such a mean word... please refer to them as "undocumented"

Welcome to the Free World.......

This is disgusting.

Quoted: Just so we're clear.  They pay no taxes yet are getting benifits from teh general tax pool, right?

They get free hospital coverage too i think.

They need to do what my city did. We had one of those hangouts for criminals and the city council refused to do anything about it. Next election, the mayor and all but the only one who fought the center were ousted. New group comes in and closes the center, telling the illegals and their sponsors tata

This is insane. I was in DC this week and bought some flip flops from some 'grants who couldn't even understand what I was asking in English. I'm sure we're funding them in some way.

It's everywhere--immigrants get more benefits than us hard-working, tax-paying citizens. WTF. This crap pisses me off.

Quoted: This is insane. I was in DC this week and bought some flip flops from some 'grants who couldn't even understand what I was asking in English. I'm sure we're funding them in some way. It's everywhere--immigrants get more benefits than us hard-working, tax-paying citizens. WTF. This crap pisses me off.

Welcome to VA, you'll fit right in!

They've *already* done that up here in Arlington.  Dog fu***** bastards!  To call the county council here in Arlington liberal would be the understatement of all time.  

They're taxing folks like me out of the County, while they try and figure out ways to make life easier for illegal immigrants.  

Personally, I think we should start impeachment proceeding against anyone who votes for funding these projects.  

I want a tax day amnesty every April 16th. If you forgot to pay tour taxes. Oh, ok. We understand that you are just trying to have a better life for your family.

I want an NFA amnesty every day. Oh, I understand that your just trying to have fun.

I want the ATF to be told to stand down, just like the INS has.

I want the taxes on cigarettes, beer, gasoline, the luxury tax, and other sin taxes to be eliminated after all they adversely effect millions of Americans who are seaking a better life!!!

Amnesty for all of Americans (non-violent in-statute-only) Crimes!!!

Who is with me???

bumped for those getting ready to get home from work

damn this is a tough crowd

Google Hoover Multicultural Resource Center . Hoover Alabama just shut one of these places down. The city council voted 6-1 after a meeting packed with pro/con citizens. The dissenting vote was cast by a fucktard named Mike Natter who is in the [surprise] construction business [/surprise].

These things can be defeated, but it takes a determined effort by an organized group of voters. These things typically turn into dumps. When enough people get pissed off, they can be erased. Citizens have to start organizing opposition to the reps who voted for. The only way to change their mind is to threaten their elected job. It doesn't take a large body, only a vocal unremitting group who won't take yes for an answer. Voter turnout is typically low, and a corp of pissed off citizens can be the difference in an election.
Start now. Don't stop.

Quoted: They've *already* done that up here in Arlington.  Dog fu***** bastards!  To call the county council here in Arlington liberal would be the understatement of all time.   They're taxing folks like me out of the County, while they try and figure out ways to make life easier for illegal immigrants.   Personally, I think we should start impeachment proceeding against anyone who votes for funding these projects.

You could not be more right. Two words for you Walter Tejada.  

one last bump....for the night crew