Virginia: Illegal Aliens

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The INS estimates that the illegal resident alien population in Virginia was about 55,000 in October 1996. This is nearly one third (31%) higher than the INS estimate of the illegal alien population in October 1992. The surge in illegal immigrants to Virginia is greater than the national average. After the amnesty for illegal aliens was adopted in 1986, 19,000 applications were received from persons resident in Virginia.

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*     INS - Investigations - Virginia:   *
*      Washington (703) 578-4901        *
*       Norfolk (757) 858-7502          *
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Although not typically known as a state with a high level of immigration, Virginia ranks eighth nationally in the number of illegal immigrants it attracts. As a result, Virginia is beginning to worry about the effects these immigrants will have on government aid -- especially in Northern Virginia where 80% of the state's illegal residents live.
(Source: Washington Post, January 16, 1995)

There are 13,000 migrant farm workers in Virginia, according to the Virginia Employment Commission and 42,000 migrants and dependents according to the Migrant Enumeration Project, a 1993 study for Migrant Legal Services to determine how to distribute legal services funds. By some estimates, one-third of the migrant farm workers in Virginia have false work authorization documents.
(Source: Richmond Times Dispatch, November 10, 1996)

On February 3, 1997 the INS conducted a raid at the Wampler-Longacre turkey processing plant in Harrisonburg. The result was the detention of 34 illegal immigrants. An ACLU lawyer claimed that the INS search twisted "the entire presumption of innocence." The INS defended the raid as in accordance with standard INS procedures. A spokesperson for the Virginia Farm Bureau said that a crackdown on farmers who hire foreign workers could cause a severe farm labor shortage. "We could lose half our labor supply," said Kenny Annis, chairman of the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Board.
(Source: Washington Times, June 2, 1997)

In September 1997, personnel of a Virginia firm, North Van Tours, were convicted of operating a ferry service for illegal aliens from Texas border areas to the East Coast. The INS said that more than 23,000 people were transported by the firm at charges of $150 for a one-way trip to Northern Virginia before the operation was uncovered in August 1996 when one of its vans with seven illegal alliens was stopped in Vienna.
(Source: Washington Times, "In Fairfax, cheap labor's easy to find," March 12, 1998)

On April 8, the INS apprehended 39 Mexican illegal alien workers at a construction site in Fredricksburg. Most of the workers, who were earning between $7.75 and $10.00 per hour working as framers and roofers, chose to accept "voluntary departure," which means they were sent back to Mexico. Two of the 39 requested deportation hearings to argue that they had a right to stay in the country.
(Source: Washington Post, April 9, 1998)

Juan Echavarria, a legal immigrant who works for a transportation company in Houston was arrested in Fairfax City on April 13 by local police and charged with transporting 15 illegal aliens headed for jobs in Northern Virginia and Maryland. The illegal aliens were from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador.
(Source: Washington Post, April 14, 1998)

In mid-October, 1999 the INS found 33 illegal aliens working at the Pentagon on a construction project. Most of the apprehended Mexican and Central American illegal workers had used false documents to obtain their jobs. (Source: Migration News, November, 1999)

A description of the flow of Salvadoran illegal aliens to the Arlandia (Nuevo Chirilagua) area of the Northern Virginia suburbs of the nation's capital is available on the Washington, DC metro area factsheet.

FAIR, 12/99.