Beach city tightens immigration rules

VIRGINIA BEACH (AP) — Doing business with this resort city means having to pledge not to hire illegal aliens, under a new clause in city contracts.

Vendors will be required to certify they are following federal immigration laws, and city officials will audit any company they think is breaking the law.

The guidelines will take effect as soon as City Manager James K. Spore issues an order to city departments.

“I’m very pleased,” said Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson, who suggested such a step in November. “I think this is the beginning.”

The new guidelines may slow the influx of illegal aliens locally but will not stop it, said Alicia Fernandez-Bobulinski, vice chairwoman of the city’s Human Rights Commission.

The city has relied on state and federal officials to enforce immigration laws. But officials have been pressured to do more after two teenage girls died last spring when their car was struck by a vehicle driven by an illegal alien who was drunk.

Police in Virginia Beach now ask those from other countries about their immigration status after they are arrested.

But city officials said they have little flexibility to tighten immigration rules. For example, federal law prevents officials from asking children enrolling in public school whether they are in the country legally, said Mark Stiles, a deputy city attorney.

“There are limited areas where the city has discretion,” he said.

Councilman Jim Wood said there are no guarantees that federal officials will respond when the city reports immigration problems.

The number of detention orders issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials has declined in Virginia Beach, according to a letter Sheriff Paul J. Lanteigne recently sent to city council members. In April and May, soon after the two teens were killed, ICE detained nearly all the purported illegal aliens the city reported to the agency.

According to the sheriff’s report, the office contacted ICE 45 times in November, and the agency issued 13 detention orders.

The sheriff is releasing illegal aliens “because ICE is not picking them up,” Mr. Wood said.