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I used to live in Prince William County many moons ago. Good for them for coming up with a solution. Now I think I'll write a letter to Canyon County in Idaho and include this article!

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Consumption is indeed important in a free economy: particularly the freedom of consumers to buy their goods in unhampered markets. However, key to long-term economic growth is investment (savings), which is the opposite of consumption. Public policies that promote consumption — such as low interest rates — do so at the expense of savings. Less savings means less investments; an economy that does not save or invest will consume all of its resources and eventually end up bankrupt.-David Saied

Good move on their part...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Great!..and this is just the tip of the iceberg as many localities start to fall in line. Michigan just started issuing drivers licenses to legal residents only. This is great for the fraud mills and a boon for false documentation and that translates to eventual jail time and...deportation!

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"Destiny must be shaped and not left to mere chance."..Spencer Collins

This isn't a solution, this is passing the buck.

"Opponents of the rules say they have had a chilling effect on Prince William's once-thriving Latino community, prompting even legal immigrants to flee a hostile environment. "

According to the most recent census, 15% of the population is Hispanic, but less than 5% is illegal. It is shameful when policies that promote "hostile environments" that would make that 10% feel persecuted is applauded. If you wanted to save money, a better solution would be to simply cut ESL classes altogether. Children would assimilate faster, and they don't really need them.

FYI, Northeastern states (i.e. my neck of the woods) have had legal residency requirements for drivers licenses for YEARS now. States that do not do so are in the minority (not the majority).

I don't remember a big Hispanic population when I lived there (for a short time). Most of the people were from everywhere and a lot of them worked for government agencies. Other than that there were a lot of folks from West Virginia who drove in to work there.
And I don't think anyone is persecuted with this law. Prince William county provides a lot of services our children and adults around the country would like to have. If you live there you can enroll in free (payed for by your taxes) college courses in introduction to computers, almost any language you want to learn, and more. Also they have programs that identify advanced and remedial status students and arrange for children to go to classes in what they are ahead or behind in and still remain with their peers most of the day. Every child is allowed to ride the bus even if they live within two miles of the school (unless that has changed since the eighties). All in all it appears a very inclusive (almost too much?) society of people.
I don't know why on earth legal residents would be intimidated.
Show me your papers, Mam. Not a difficult assignment!
After all when I think of all the paperwork I had to show in order to enroll my children in a school for the first time and when they advanced to another location, I don't feel sorry for anyone who has to pull out documents for themselves and their little ones. Just goes with the territory.

__________________
Consumption is indeed important in a free economy: particularly the freedom of consumers to buy their goods in unhampered markets. However, key to long-term economic growth is investment (savings), which is the opposite of consumption. Public policies that promote consumption — such as low interest rates — do so at the expense of savings. Less savings means less investments; an economy that does not save or invest will consume all of its resources and eventually end up bankrupt.-David Saied

As I said, pretty soon every Hispanic will have to have his/her status stamped on their forehead just to avoid the sidelong looks, . It is laws like these that create an environment of bigotry against ALL Hispanics, which is shameful.

Let's say I told you that 35% of all white females in Philadelphia snorted cocaine. How do you think you would be treated if you were a white male from Philadelphia? How would I know that you're not one of the addicts? Give me a blood sample, ma'am! Not that simple, is it? How do you tell if a Hispanic is legal or not? Because they speak English? Because they have a certain "je ne se qua"? What distinguishes an America Hispanic from an illegal Hispanic? NOTHING. So, why on earth would legal Hispanics flee a "hostile environment"?? I wonder...

There is no such thing as being "too inclusive". Maybe we should restart that old cleansing movement... what were they called? Oh yeah, nazis.

I've already addressed the fact that illegals ALSO pay taxes to the tune of $483 billion dollars a year, and that they are a net benefit to the economy. This problem needs federal legislation, not small town policies. These create an anti-immigrant (not anti-illegal) environment and fixes nothing. PASSING THE BUCK.

False...

An American Hispanic is one who has adopted American culture and assimilated themselves into both the LEGAL infrastructure through the use of LEGAL documentation and also through American customs and culture...

Whereas illegal Hispanics have NOT done these things...They come with no attempt to know our language, no attempt to go through the correct LEGAL line, and no attempt to do things other than the way things were done in their own country...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

In case you haven't registered K through 3 or new students to a community lately:
EVERYONE has to show their child's birth certificate or naturalization papers. Why this county didn't require to see visas before this is beyond me other than they are just really nice and kept giving people a second chance to come up with the papers. They do that a lot in the south and some other states I've lived in. Give you a break. Give you a chance whether you are white or purple. Cause when people are new to an area they may not always have every thing in line.
Maybe the school administrators of Prince William County District should stamp
"Don't mistake my southern politeness for naïveté !"
on their foreheads.

__________________
Consumption is indeed important in a free economy: particularly the freedom of consumers to buy their goods in unhampered markets. However, key to long-term economic growth is investment (savings), which is the opposite of consumption. Public policies that promote consumption — such as low interest rates — do so at the expense of savings. Less savings means less investments; an economy that does not save or invest will consume all of its resources and eventually end up bankrupt.-David Saied

You are still not addressing my point. I agree that there should be federal legislation (countrywide) to solve this illegal immigration issue. My argument is that this approach only creates negativity towards ALL Hispanics. I fail to see why it is the "fault" of all Hispanics that some do not have the proper documentation to be in this country. Yet, they all must suffer the "stigma" of being of a certain race - it promotes racism, and makes people feel that it is ok to discriminate.

... Prince William began implementing rules to deny some services to illegal immigrants and require police to check the immigration status of crime suspects thought to be in the country illegally.

How is that discriminating?

__________________
Consumption is indeed important in a free economy: particularly the freedom of consumers to buy their goods in unhampered markets. However, key to long-term economic growth is investment (savings), which is the opposite of consumption. Public policies that promote consumption — such as low interest rates — do so at the expense of savings. Less savings means less investments; an economy that does not save or invest will consume all of its resources and eventually end up bankrupt.-David Saied