As a dozen Latino men walked into Prince William County court in January to face charges of loitering at a 7-Eleven, Jim McDonald stood outside holding a sign that read, "ACLU and Illegals Please Go Home."
It's a regular role for McDonald, 59, who pickets frequently outside courthouses or anywhere else he thinks he should spread his message. He has plenty of poster board, and he's happy to travel.
April Gallop, a Sept. 11 survivor, was at a 2003 news conference regarding driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.
(Don Wright -- AP)
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McDonald, whose placard targeted a group of Latino day laborers arrested as they waited for potential employers in Woodbridge, does not work alone. He is part of a group calling itself the Virginia Coalition Against Terrorism. An assortment of mostly local residents -- some of them immigrants themselves -- the coalition has dedicated itself to fighting new arrivals who have come to the United States illegally, as some in the Woodbridge roundup had.
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the group's rhetoric has assumed a new edge. Illegal immigration, the coalition preaches, feeds terrorism.
"We could see 9/11 way before it got here," said Michael Crowe, a financial consultant who heads the group. "We felt that [the name] Virginia Coalition Against Terrorism, after September 11, makes a whole lot more sense."
The group, founded in 1990 and comprising 150 members, regularly attends town hall meetings when the issue of how to handle the region's day laborers -- most often Hispanic men -- is up for discussion. Members have picketed Freddie Mac for co-sponsoring an event with a national pro-immigrant group. Leaders say the coalition is preparing to take on Anheuser-Busch Cos. for its support of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
And in Richmond this winter, it helped craft legislation that passed the General Assembly and, if signed by Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), would bar illegal immigrants 19 years and older from receiving public benefits.
As the Northern Virginia suburbs struggle with issues provoked by the influx of immigrants, the coalition has drawn more supporters. Immigration advocates say the group is divisive, fanning tensions instead of tackling problems.
"They have been successful in frustrating attempts of local officials to find solutions," said Tim Freilich, managing attorney for the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers in Falls Church. "Their presence attracts others who share their views on these matters. They definitely change the tone of the debate."
Earlier this week, the Pew Hispanic Center, a private research group in Washington, released a report estimating that the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States increased from 8.4 million in 2000 to 10.3 million in 2004. Virginia and Maryland have an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 undocumented immigrants each, according to the report.
April Dawn Gallop, a former Army administrative specialist who uses a cane because of injuries she received in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, said she never thought about immigration and terrorism until that day.
After the attack, she began attending anti-immigration rallies and congressional hearings, where she often ran into members of the coalition. Then last year, as soon as day laborers began gathering at a 7-Eleven less than a mile from her Woodbridge apartment, Gallop contacted members.
"I . . . said I can't believe what's going on," said Gallop, 33, who is trying to get disability benefits from the military.
As part of a larger group of organizations that target immigration, the group has helped opponents of day laborers in Maryland, Tennessee and North Carolina. Now the issue is in its own back yard, Gallop said.
