Manassas Ordinance Raises Cries of Bigotry

In his response, Warner explained that it would not and that the two states that had declared such emergencies, New Mexico and Arizona, received additional border guards, not money.

"I regard illegal immigration as a serious public policy problem," Warner wrote, "and have written to our congressional delegation on this issue, asking for them to work to increase federal funding for border security and enforcement of existing immigration laws."

If the mayor complained in his letter to Warner about illegal immigrants "eroding the strong spirit of our city," if some residents complained about trash and parking problems, Croft said Friday that he found such complaints mystifying.

As far as he could tell, neighborhood streets around Manassas were generally pretty clean, the civic spirit strong and, in a way, he saw his little protest as an affirmation of that.

"I understand the illegal immigration problem is real, but I find this to be an un-American way to go about fixing it," Croft said. "I moved to Northern Virginia to get away from that more narrow-minded mind-set. . . . I feel this sort of thing doesn't belong anymore."

So there he was, holding his sign. Cars swished past. A woman walking by smiled and said, "God bless." Two men, one black, one white, both city workers, stopped to chat about how things were then and how they are now.

"I figure to err on the open-minded side is better than cracking down," Croft said, explaining that, in his view, the city might have found a more reasonable way of dealing with problems such as garbage and parking, for instance, by enforcing common nuisance ordinances.

He figured there were other people who shared his views in Manassas. He wondered where they were.

"I guess it's because they don't like to be singled out," Croft said. "It's not easy to come out and speak your mind in public. I don't like doing it."