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Immigrants Make Significant
Contributions and Face Many Challenges in Virginia
Richmond
WOMAN, Vol.
2, Issue 11, November 2004, pp.16, 19
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In 2003, the
Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution (HJR 604) directing the
Virginia legislature’s award winning, nonpartisan Joint Legislative
Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to study “acclimation of the
Commonwealth’s ethnically diverse population.” The study
presented by the JLARC staff report in November 2003 (available online
at www.jlarc.state.va.us) contained findings that exploded some myths
about immigrants living and working in Virginia and offered facts about
the important and essential contributions immigrants make to Virginia’s
economy.
According to the JLARC study:
- foreign born persons comprise 12%
of the civilian workforce; 6.5% of active duty armed forces stationed
in Virginia; and 44% of the labor market growth in the last decade;
- 90% of migrant farmworkers are
foreign born; 80% of Virginia farmers say that they would have to sell
their farms and leave farming if the migrant/seasonal workforce was not
available;
- the poultry industry is heavily
dependent on foreign born workers who make up half of the industry’s
labor force;
- 19% of workers in hotels/tourism
are foreign born; without foreign workers many hotels/restaurants could
not operate with a “full house;” and
- Asians in Virginia have a buying
power exceeding $6.6 billion; Latino buying power is over $5.7 billion.
The study confirmed that, in general,
foreign-born persons do not use public services at a disproportionate
rate; in fact, their use of public services is lower than expected
given poverty rates and income levels.
Compared to native-born Virginians, the study found that immigrants
need special help in only three areas: learning English; interpreter
and translation services; and access to affordable health care.
Lack of health insurance means that immigrants are more likely to use
public health services or seek charity care at local hospitals and free
clinics.
The study highlighted an important compliance and equal opportunity
issue for Virginia. State and local programs operated using
federal funds may be out of compliance with Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity or national
origin and requires language access for non-English speakers.
The JLARC study included a number of recommendations including:
implementing a statewide plan for complying with Title VI; better
coordination of funding and programming to address limited English
proficiency in schools and for adult learners; increased outreach by
law enforcement to prevent victimization of immigrant populations; and
the development of state programs to assist in the naturalization
process.
Delegate Kirk Cox (R Colonial Heights), author of the resolution
calling for the JLARC study, introduced legislation during the 2004
General Assembly Session to implement some of the study recommendations:
- House Bill 301, which would have
funded programs to assist residents with the naturalization process,
was killed in the Appropriations Committee.
- HB 302, passed by the legislature
and approved by the Governor, requires the state purchasing department
to “establish a statewide contract for telephonic language
interpretation services and other interpretation and translation
services to Virginia's limited English-speaking residents, if it
determines that such a contract is cost-effective.”
- HJ 71, which would have helped
bring Virginia programs into compliance with Title VI, originally
called for development of a comprehensive plan to ensure the efficient
and cost-effective provision of information and services to Virginia's
limited English speaking residents. The weakened version that
ultimately passed the Senate and was accepted by the House only calls
for a “plan for increasing awareness of the requirements to provide
meaningful access to information and services in the Health and Human
Resources Secretariat” eliminating any focus on language education for
children or adults.
The action and inaction of the 2004
General Assembly on many JLARC recommendations leaves important issues
unaddressed. As of today, Virginia and its localities remain
vulnerable to discrimination complaints under Title VI regarding access
to services by language minorities. No action has been taken to address
the serious health care issues identified by JLARC. Little has been
done to assist immigrants in learning English. These are issues
that should be at the forefront as the Governor’s Virginia-Latino
Advisory Commission and other immigrant groups continue to discuss ways
Virginia can better accommodate our growing immigrant population.
In addition, to leaving unresolved many concerns identified in the
study, the General Assembly passed a new law that went into effect on
July 1 that threatens to have a negative effect on the relationship of
trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement agencies.
Good law enforcement/community relationships are necessary to ensure
the safety and security of all Virginians. The new law, resulting
from passage of HB570 (Albo, R-Springfield) and SB493 (Mims, R-Loudoun)
during the 2004 General Assembly Session, is a narrow law that gives
only very limited immigration enforcement powers to local and state
police and should not, in fact, result in any real change in the way
Virginia law enforcement agencies currently operate.
For the overwhelming majority of Virginia’s immigrants, this law should
have no real effect. Nonetheless, immigrant advocates are
concerned that public or police misperception regarding the scope of
the new law or inconsistent implementation by law enforcement agencies
will result in biased policing and prevent immigrant communities and
law enforcement from developing and preserving relationships of trust.
That is why twenty or more organizations and individuals representing
the full diversity of immigrant communities in Virginia have come
together in an unprecedented statewide alliance to raise awareness
about this important public safety issue and to monitor the new law’s
implementation. The members of the new alliance, called The
Virginia Alliance for Sensible Community Policing Efforts (VA-SCOPE),
believe the best way to combat gang activity, drug trafficking, and
terrorism (the stated targets of this new legislation) is through
building trust and strong relationships between local law enforcement
and the immigrant communities of Virginia.
Virginia law enforcement has invested millions of dollars in sensible
community policing efforts. VA-SCOPE wants to work with law
enforcement to ensure that these dollars are not wasted. One
member of the Alliance, the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has
already brought representatives of Richmond area law enforcement
agencies and organizations serving the Hispanic community together to
discuss how best to reinforce collaboration and communication with law
enforcement in light of concerns about the new legislation.
One thing is clear. If law enforcement agencies do not proceed with
care, misunderstanding and fear regarding the new law could have a
devastating impact on community policing in immigrant
communities. This is an outcome that no one concerned about safe
neighborhoods, streets and schools should want. As Jorge
Figueredo, Co-Chair of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations
(VACOLAO), has said, “With more power comes more responsibility.
Now that this law has passed, the police need to be even more careful
how they use their power or they will lose the trust of the community.” 
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