The American Street And Illegal Immigration

Contrary to the Washington Post headline "Hate Calls Swamp Herndon Town Hall," WMAL is not fostering hate. I know because, on that particular morning, I was listening to WMAL when Mark Williams, filling in for the suspended Michael Graham [here, here, and here], made an announcement which resulted in a flood of calls to Herndon Town Hall.

The following excerpts are from the abovementioned article in the Washington Post:

"Herndon Town Hall unplugged its phone lines yesterday after listeners of a talk show on WMAL-AM flooded the switchboard with what officials said were hate calls against a proposed day-laborer site.

"The phones began ringing nonstop about 9:30 a.m., officials said, just after a substitute host on 'The Michael Graham Show' called the proposed gathering spot for immigrant workers a 'day-care center for illegal criminal aliens' and urged listeners to complain to Herndon Mayor Michael L. O'Reilly.

"'You need to help . . . Mayor O'Reilly understand he's advocating breaking the law . . . and assisting criminal aliens who are in this country destroying this country, stealing jobs, running drugs, raping people. This is not an approved activity for the mayor of Herndon, Virginia,' host Mark Williams said, according to an audio recording on the station's Web site. Williams broadcast from KFBK-AM in Sacramento.

"He then read aloud the telephone number of Town Hall dozens of times and urged listeners to 'melt that switchboard' and picket O'Reilly's law office a block away."

Such was the flood of calls that the switchboard shut down for several hours. The managers had to pull the plug.

Some people in Northern Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere in the United States, are fed up with the day-laborer situation. Many of us have hesitated to speak out, but with a little encouragement the other day, some citizens decided to make their voices heard. Previous to Mark Williams's broadcast, citizens had turned out in volume for the hearing at the Herndon Planning Commision, and the commission had decided against the day-laborer center. Despite that decision, the matter of the day-laborers center is still unresolved. According to the Washington Post,

"The struggles of the four-square-mile town of 23,000 in northwest Fairfax County to absorb newcomers, many of them in the country illegally, have mushroomed into an emotional debate over immigration policy. The Town Council will vote this month on whether to formalize what has been an informal gathering place at a 7-Eleven parking lot, where about 150 laborers seeking work assemble most days.

"The town's Planning Commission this week narrowly rejected a proposal from a local social service group to build a tax-supported site on the Loudoun border. But the vote was not binding, and the council often differs with the commission."

The congregating of day laborers is, of course, not limited to the town of Herndon. These day laborers congregate around many convenience stores throughout Northern Virginia, and my husband and I, both of us now middle-aged, have had the uncomfortable experience of having to walk through hordes of immigrants just to purchase a morning cup of coffee. Often one or more police cruisers is present, and I sometimes wonder what other law-enforcement matters are going untended because our officers have watch duty at the convenience stores. In fact, several months ago, when I called the police one early weekday morning to report a possible theft from my car here at home, the officer didn't arrive for several hours. Could there be a connection between his delay and the monitoring of day laborers? Maybe, maybe not.

It seems that loitering laws are no longer in force. It used to be that such gatherings were not allowed here in Northern Virginia. In fact, when I was growing, individuals who wanted to do yard work or other odd jobs went door to door to try to find work. They were not allowed to hang around the doors of businesses.

Besides, Mark Williams recent broadcast at WMAL also emphasized that there is a question as to the legal status of many of these day laborers. Apparently, local law enforcement does not address the issue, but they should.

Furthermore, some citizens here are outraged that the proposed Herndon center for day laborers would provide many "creature comforts," including air-conditioning and television, according to what a Herndon friend of mine has told me. Taxpayers in the D.C. suburbs are already overburdened with an outrageous real-estate tax and don't appreciate assuming an additional tax-burden. Believe it or not, some Northern Virginians don't have such comforts in our own homes; for example, I can't run my air-conditioning as high as I would like to because of the expense involved. Government-run programs, however, pass along the burden of those electrical bills to the taxpayers.

Yes, some of the calls to Herndon Town Hall were ugly, but none of the threats materialized. People are angry! And anger about paying taxes is an American tradition. Think of the American colonists, some of whom had reputations as rabble rousers. Had the American colonists lived in our day, would their reaction have been much different? Perhaps the profanities would have been fewer, but the resentment about the tax burden was the same. Remember the Boston Tea Party?

Bottom line: Taxpayers should not have to subsidize a special work-force, especially one which involves illegal immigrants.

And citizens have the right to phone town hall.