Immigration Leads City's Concerns

Manassas to Seek Help From State on Issue

Immigration issues top Manassas's legislative wish list for 2007.

The city wants the 2007 Virginia General Assembly to compensate it for any costs related to a plan to train law enforcement officers to expedite federal immigration laws and is requesting more state aid to combat crowding in single-family houses.

The City Council will meet tomorrow with state representatives regarding the session.

The council recently passed a resolution that would allow Manassas to participate in a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that gives local law enforcement the power to initiate deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes or multiple misdemeanors.

The resolution recommends that staff members at the Adult Detention Center, which the city owns jointly with Prince William County, receive the training. But if the center's jail board and the Prince William Board of County Supervisors do not support the proposal, Manassas instead would send city police officers to the training, according to the resolution.

"I think we are being leaders, and I would like to think that is the confidence people place in us -- that we lead and not sit back and watch what everyone else does," City Council member Marc T. Aveni (R) said. "There is always a risk when you try something new. This is new."

Aveni said he fully expects Jackson H. Miller (R), a former council member who led the council's ICE training proposal in October, to assist Manassas at the state level in his new role as a state delegate.

The jail board is awaiting answers regarding the program's impact on corrections officers, such as how long the training will last, how the program would be set up and its cost, said Patrick J. Hurd, board chairman.

"At this point, it is accurate to say we have more questions than answers and are looking forward to getting those answers," Hurd said.

"The jail board hasn't made a decision. Our board hasn't made a decision," Prince William County spokeswoman Liz Bahrns said.

Training each police department for the federal program would be costly, would strain already thin forces and could harm the police's relationship with the community, Manassas Police Chief John J. Skinner said.

Skinner said he was more inclined to support a new state-funded task force, similar to the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force, that works with federal agents and has more than 300 ICE cases pending.