Sterling Park's Identity Crisis

Swept Up in Area's Demographic Shift, Loudoun Neighborhood Wrestles With Immigrant Presence

In some ways, Sterling Park is the same as it was 40 years ago, when it was founded as Loudoun County's first suburban-style planned community -- a place where working-class families could find jobs, affordable homes and a piece of the American dream.

In other ways, though, the community has never been so different. One recent morning, Spanish ballads blared from the open door of Pepe's Mexican Restaurant. A cadre of Latino children zoomed along the sidewalk on scooters in front of Sterling Elementary School, where a sign urging parents to register their children was printed in English and Spanish.

For decades, the conservative, largely white neighborhood of a few thousand families was isolated from the sweeping demographic changes that transformed Northern Virginia into one of the most diverse regions in the nation.

Today, Sterling Park is on the front line of that change. The number of Hispanics has surged since 2000 in Loudoun, the Census Bureau reported last week, with many of them settling in Sterling Park. The community is at the heart of an intensifying debate over illegal immigration that led the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to join Prince William and several other Virginia jurisdictions last month in approving resolutions promising to crack down on illegal immigrants who use county services or commit crimes.

Many Sterling Park residents have praised the board's action, saying the newcomers have brought with them a flood of illegal immigrants, whom they blame for everything from run-down houses to what they perceive as an increase in crime.

Immigrant advocates agree that the aging neighborhood -- where nearly every block has a house with peeling paint or an unkempt yard, and gangs are a persistent problem -- has seen better days. But they say the critics, and the politicians who have responded to them, are connecting a jumble of issues that have nothing to do with illegal immigration.

The debate has sharpened largely because of a backlash among longtime residents upset by the changes in the town.

"People I talk to are very concerned about degradation of their neighborhoods, property values, overcrowding, lack of maintenance on homes -- that type of thing," said state Del. Thomas Davis Rust (R), who represents Sterling Park and nearby Herndon and supports the resolutions. "Most people that have talked to me blame illegal immigration and believe there is a direct link. Do I have proof that there's a link? No. But that is what people believe."

One such resident is Fran Brocke, 76, of Ashburn, who lived in Sterling Park for 43 years but moved in October because her neighborhood, she said, was being "taken over by illegal aliens." She is a member of Help Save Loudoun, a group that opposes illegal immigration.

"It really breaks my heart," said Brocke, recalling the brick split-level house on Church Road where she raised her five kids. "People thought I'd never leave. But it just got to the point where I didn't feel safe anymore."

Defenders of the immigrants say many of the criticisms are not supported by statistics.

For instance, although there is a widespread perception that crime has increased in Sterling, sheriff's office data show that nearly every kind of crime has decreased since 2000. Last year, Sterling Park saw a few high-profile shootings and gang-related incidents. But according to the Loudoun sheriff's office, only one in 20 gang members in the county is in the country illegally, and most are U.S. citizens.