“As you can probably tell from my heavy accent, I am from Korea,” Moon said as he introduced himself Tuesday at a Chantilly High School student forum. After 12 years on the School Board, he said he has acquired a thick skin and an empathy for families of all ethnic backgrounds.
“When Hispanic parents don’t show up at school meetings, I understand them,” said Moon. “My parents never came to my school, either. They worked too many jobs, they spoke almost no English and they came from a culture where you never approached officials. I may not speak good Spanish, but I get it.”
Despite its large concentration of immigrants, the greater Washington region has produced only a relative handful of foreign-born politicians. Many immigrants here come from poor or war-torn countries with limited resources, poor English skills and years to wait before they can become citizens. Thousands more are illegal immigrants.
Among foreign-born residents who meet the requirements to run for office, most have preferred to remain hunkered down in obscurity, pursuing the American dream of economic and educational opportunity. Some have also been soured on politics by family memories of conflict or repression back home.
A few foreign-born Hispanic politicians have become high-profile liberal Democrats and advocates for immigrant rights. In Arlington, Tejada and Violand-Sanchez have strongly backed in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants and opposed tough police profiling practices against them.
“I spent 30 years in the county schools, trying to help immigrant children from inside the system,” said Violand-Sanchez, who emigrated from Bolivia as a teenager. “Now I am retired, so I can speak out and try to change the system.” She noted that 24 anti-immigrant measures were introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates last year. “I am a proud Arlingtonian,” she said, “but not necessarily a proud Virginian.”
Several other Latino politicians have become active Republicans. Munoz, a Colombian-born construction firm owner, made a name during the 2008 presidential campaign as “Tito the Builder,” a plain-talking and telegenic supporter of the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket. After his brush with fame, he launched a campaign for the state Senate this summer with a simple message: No to socialism, yes to “individual liberty” and free enterprise.
Munoz lost in the August primary but hosts a Spanish-language radio show. He said he hopes to “reach out to millions of other new Americans” and help draw them into the Republican fold. “If we don’t get immigrants involved in the party, it’s going to become obsolete,” he said.
Immigrants with Middle Eastern and Muslim backgrounds are the newest and fewest to enter politics in the region. They can face a double dose of ethnic and religious antipathy, no matter their political party or views.
David Ramadan, a Lebanon-born jewelry business owner from Loudoun County, is a high-profile Republican activist who worked hard to win party endorsements and gave significant campaign donations to Virginia Republicans, including Gov. Robert F. McDonnell. In August, Ramadan won the primary for the 87th District in the House of Delegates, and he is running in the general election.
Yet Ramadan also has become a target for anti-Muslim groups in Virginia, which have accused him of seeking to bring Islamic Shariah law to the state. Ramadan, who is married to a Christian, has dismissed the attacks as a “fear and smear campaign” aimed at damaging a “solid conservative Republican.”
Shahid Malik, 53, a Pakistani-American business owner running for Fairfax County supervisor, has avoided such controversy with a low-key campaign focused on voters’ practical concerns. When his religion comes up, he mentions a blood bank called Muslims for Life, which he helped establish after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I talk about my technical experience, my community service and my four kids who went through the county schools,” said Malik, a soft-spoken man with a background in engineering. “I heard that someone called me ‘that Muslim guy running from that mosque,’ but no one has said anything to my face.” When he knocks on voters’ doors, he said, “most wish me good luck.”
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