Passed on by Susannah Gerber Lepley

Following are some of the Virginia House bills that will significantly affect immigrants. Please call your rep and give them your opinion. They were forwarded to me from the Virginia Justice Center. Please contact them if you have any questions. Their information is at the bottom.

House Bill 487: This bill would turn Virginia's State Police into immigration enforcers, undermining successful community policing efforts by destroying the trust between local law enforcement and Virginia's immigrant communities.

House Bill 1046: This bill would have juvenile probation officers questioning Virginia's children about their immigration status. If a child is even accused of committing an adult crime and believed to be undocumented, the child could be referred to federal immigration authorities.

House Bill 287: This bill would deny driver's licenses to Virginia's legally present immigrants and U.S. citizens who don't speak English well enough yet to pass the knowledge test in English. (Current law recognizes the need to have carefully-tested and licensed drivers on Virginia's roads, and the test may be taken in English, Spanish, or with an interpreter.) This bill requires that the test be taken in English only without an interpreter.  In 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 688,606 people living in Virginia were born outside of the United States-almost ten percent of all Virginians!

House Bills 262 and 892: These bills would ban kids from attending Virginia colleges and universities if they can't prove that they are lawfully present in the U.S. -- even if they grew up in Virginia and graduated from Virginia high schools. These would be kids that have come to the US often when they were very young and have known no other life.

House Bills 1135 and 1050: These bills would deny instate tuition to Virginia's kids who can't prove they are lawfully present in the U.S. --even if they grew up in Virginia and graduated from Virginia high schools. These are kids that have come to the US ofthen at a very young age and have lived in Virginia long enough to count for instate tuition if they could prove legal US presence.

 House Bill 1051: This bill would tie the hands of local officials who wish to address community concerns regarding day laborers. It would effectively shut down safe and orderly worker centers, and prohibit the establishment of new ones, while offering no alternative solutions.

  Follow this link: Who's My Legislator? http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform> [or go to http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform] and enter your address. You will be given the contact information for your representatives. Tell them to REJECT THE ANTI-IMMIGRANT PACKAGE OF BILLS listed above by either clicking "Send a Message to Your Delegate and Senator" or just giving them a call. Thank you. >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim Freilich, Managing Attorney 

Virginia Justice Center

Visit our website: www.virginiajusticecenter.org http://www.virginiajusticecenter.org> or For more information, please contact the Virginia Justice Center, (434)977-0553 ext. 111