Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher, who looks at the latest news with a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.

Today's Column: On Va. House Panel, a Stampede Against Illegal Immigration

Fisher was online Thursday, Jan. 31, at Noon ET to discuss what's going on in the Virginia legislature with bills aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants and others, reaction to Rep. Tom Davis's announcement that he won't seek reelection and more.

Check out Marc's blog, Raw Fisher.

In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.

Archives: Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks. Last fall, I spent several weeks ginning up a Pretend Presidential Primary over on the Raw Fisher blog on the theory that our real primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District wouldn't--couldn't possibly--matter. Surely by the time Feb. 12 rolled around on this preposterously front-loaded primary calendar, our votes would be meaningless, an act of piling on to the obvious nominees' delegate counts.

How wrong I was. The Potomac Primary is shaping up to have real and possibly even--dare we say--decisive meaning in at least one and conceivably both parties' slow marches to selecting their nominees. Already, in Richmond and Annapolis, the political establishments are moving into overdrive as presidential campaigns start gearing up for what may be five or six days of intensive marketing in the Washington region.

So, today here on the big show, we launch a dozen days of intensive coverage and discussion that will take place in the column, on the blog, on our weekly gatherings here, on the new Raw Fisher Radio here on the big web site, and on primary night, when we'll stay up together and hash out what's happened.

Come ahead with your comments and questions about who's likely to do well in the votes in Virginia, Maryland and the District--and who isn't.

There's a huge flow of political news this week, and we'll get into lots of that this hour, looking at the announcement yesterday by Rep. Tom Davis that he will not seek another term in Congress--a decision that no doubt has Democratic contenders Leslie Byrne and Gerry Connolly leaping for joy.

And we'll jump back into the Dulles rail decision--is Metro to Dulles really dead and what would that mean for the growth of the Tysons area and all of northern Virginia? What could the state and business backers of the project do to salvage it? What alternatives are now worth explorinon that will take place in the column, on the blog, on our weekly gatherings here, on the new Raw Fisher Radio here on the big web site, and on primary night, when we'll stay up together and hash out what's happened.

Come ahead with your comments and questions about who's likely to do well in the votes in Virginia, Maryland and the District--and who isn't.

On to your many comments and questions, but first, let's call the Yay and Nay of the Day:

Yay to those voters in the states that preceded us for dividing their loyalties so evenly. The big boost in turnout that the close presidential races will create in our region will be especially important for a few fairly close congressional primaries in Maryland, especially the repeat face-off between Rep. Al Wynn and challenger Donna Edwards. (The Virginia congressional primary takes place in the spring.)

Nay to the pols in Richmond who seem ready to cave once again to the lobbying and deep pockets of the payday loan industry, which is fighting an expensive and cynical battle to save itself from reforms aimed at protecting consumers from the sky-high interest rates and seductive but destructive lure of payday loans. The fate of efforts to reform or ban the industry in Virginia--it's already been pushed out or excluded from Maryland and the District--is not yet entirely set, but it's not looking good for the reformers.

Your turn starts right now....

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University City, Md.: Isn't Virginia facing a pretty major deficit? Won't these anti-immigrant measures make it worse? If there is in fact a God, I think these anti-immigrant folks are heading straight down in the hereafter!

Seriously, in Maryland each bill must be accompanied by a "fiscal note" estimating the costs of implementing that bill. Does Virginia have a similar requirement? I'd love to read some of these notes, if in fact they do!

Marc Fisher: Virginia also requires a close look at the fiscal impact of bills that would result in the state having to spend more money, and there are indeed costs related to a number of the measures designed to make the state less attractive to illegal immigrants.

I sat in on some hearings on some of the immigration bills this week, and the sheriffs, for example, are heartily in favor of a bill that would require prison officials to check on the legal status of all people who are incarcerated. That obviously costs money, but the amount seemed fairly minor. Many of the bills would put the onus of enforcement on private citizens--employers who might hire illegal's or homeowners who might rent to them. No cost to the state involved in that sort of thing.

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Annapolis, Md.: Mr. Fisher, as a legal immigrant I do not want to be associated with illegal aliens. No one is talking anywhere about deporting or depriving legal immigrants of any rights. It is the vast illegal alien population who is being targeted. Actually, legal and illegal immigrants are treated very differently. When someone immigrates here legally, they sign papers saying that they will not be using any public benefits for a period of 5 years. Most legal immigrants come here and start working and paying taxes immediately. On the contrary, illegal immigrants drive wages down for legal citizens, start having numerous babies at the taxpayers' expense, and use up lots of other public benefits. For example, I have to pay for my son's pre-K almost $14,000/year because all free pre-K spots are taken by children of illegal immigrants who do not speak English. They also steal other resources like housing vouchers, daycare assistance vouchers, head start program slots, free health insurance for children and many other. I hope you will consider an article as to why general American public is fed up with large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Marc Fisher: Good idea, and I've written several times on that theme, but will certainly return to it. There are legitimate concerns that many homeowners have about overcrowding and uncivil behavior, and some of the better bills in Richmond seek to address those as zoning and code enforcement matters. But many of the bills we're seeing this year seem aimed at persuading voters that the politicians are cracking down on immigrants, and that, as a number of Democrats and Republicans alike are now saying, threatens to damage Virginia's status as a business-friendly environment.

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Arlington, Va.: As someone who lives in Va. ...

Marc,

I just don't understand why you and other people who are pro illegal immigration won't just understand one thing .illegal immigration is one of the main reasons our health care, education and prison systems are spiraling out of control. Small towns are bankrupted paying for these things, not to mention all the health systems and emergency rooms in the south that have closed. This is in addition to insurance premiums going through the roof which is in part a result of providers having to make up for the free care they have to give [to] illegal's.

They are never going to stop coming until we stop offering this free paradise for them, while the rest of us work to pay for it! What would an illegal American immigrant in Mexico or any South American be entitled to? NOTHING. DO you know we are providing health care for about 10 percent of Mexico? You think this is a good thing, and isn't one of the main reasons our health care system is being destroyed?

Marc Fisher: Well, that sounds good, but as legislators have taken a closer look at all those free benefits that illegal immigrants are supposedly receiving, what they find is that in most cases, the folklore has leapt far beyond reality. You hear a lot about illegal immigrants taking up spaces in public colleges, but Dems and Republicans alike now say that they've not been able to find more than a couple of illegal immigrants enrolled at any Virginia public university. To be sure, illegal aliens do receive health care in state emergency rooms, and that is no doubt the most expensive form of primary care that exists. But that's a health care finance problem more than it is an immigration issue. And much as some legislators would like to kick immigrants out of the ERs, it's not something that federal law or medical ethics would allow.

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Anonymous: How much of the political pressure to legislate against illegal aliens is predicated upon the hope that their lives will become so miserable here that they'll voluntarily repatriate themselves to their home country at their own expense? I've read of some Brazilians in the northeast U.S. who've left in frustration.

Marc Fisher: That's precisely what the legislators who wrote these bills say they want to see happen, and to some degree, they believe it is happening already. Though it's going to be hard to unpack those reasons from the economic shifts that are driving some people to leave the area; after all, they're here for jobs and if the jobs dry up, some people will bail out.

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Fairfax County, Va.: I'm excited that our February 12 primaries will mean something (at least on the Democratic side) after all. I missed what you did with the Pretend Primary questions. Can those be reused now that we have a Real Primary or two coming up?

Also, I guess the AU speech with Kennedy and Obama was sort of the kickoff of the circus coming to town, but they won't all get here til the day after Super Tuesday, right? Have you seen any early signs of the primaries so far around here? (Whether in Virginia, Maryland, or D.C.)

Marc Fisher: We're starting to see some action, but it's mainly in the form of small gatherings--the Obama camp is organizing debate-watching parties all around Virginia for tonight's Dem TV debate, for example--and big fundraisers. The candidates themselves won't descend on this region until the morning after Super Tuesday, and then only if there indeed remains a real race in either party.

The Pretend Primary pieces are still up on the blog's archive, which you can find at washingtonpost.com/fisher, along with an archive of my columns.

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Chevy Chase, D.C.: So as it looks more and more like we are down to the final four in the presidential sweepstakes, what are your odds for D.C. finally getting 'real' congressional representation under a McCain vs. Romney vs. Clinton vs. Obama administration? I haven't kept up, but have any of these candidates taken a stand on this issue? Given that DC/MD/VA may actually have a role to play in the dash for delegates as late as Feb 12th, I think we should all be informed!

Marc Fisher: It's hard to be remotely optimistic about D.C. voting rights this year. The departure of Tom Davis from Congress will eliminate the District's most avid and important advocate , and it's become pretty clear that while the Democrats may pay more lip service to D.C. rights, they're not prepared to do anything about it. The Clinton administration was distinctly uninterested in D.C. voting rights, so I wouldn't expect any different attitude from Sen. Clinton. Sen. Obama has been more vocal in his support, and some D.C. voting rights activists say Obama is more eager to push on the issue, but I don't see any president playing much of a role on this in the next four years. I have not heard Romney say anything on D.C. rights; McCain has been antagonistic to the District on this.

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Washington, D.C.: Marc,

I was fairly disturbed by your article the other day regarding David Maloney, D.C. Preservation Board Officer, essentially going out of his way to make life miserable for that couple who were given permits to renovate their home, only to have neighbors complain. It sounds an awful lot like certain members of the Preservation Board are having their power go to their heads, is there any way to reign them in?

washingtonpost.com: Human Dignity Also Needs to Be Preserved ( Post. Jan. 10)

Marc Fisher: There is, as the court ruling said and as federal housing officials repeatedly note, a belief within the D.C. historic preservation office and board that preservation trumps human concerns--an attitude that serves only to undermine the general support that exists in Washington for the concept of holding on to truly historic buildings. As with anything in life, when you start to overcategorize and lump everything in sight into some protected status, you lose what's special about that designation--and you lose public support.

That's what's happened here, and it's really tragic, especially for those historic sites that are in crying need of help.

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Arlington, Va.: Marc,

You probably won't answer this question because its about the style of your comments. While I like the topics you address, you try to slant people's opinion, not through facts, but through smoke and mirrors. It's quite similar to the way O'Reilly crafts a faulty argument. Examples are the taxi meters (bias well documented), liberals in schools (your OWN paper came out with the opposite conclusion about higher education) and now immigration (your scare tactics are as bad as Virginia's). Please just stick to the facts and your arguments are usually strong enough to hold up on their own. I don't expect a response, but it would be nice to see one.

Marc Fisher: Well, what I write is a column, not a news dispatch. It is a reported column, so I endeavor in most columns to take readers to meet characters and visit places that they might not get to on their own. But while I usually try to show my work and take readers on the journey I traveled to get to my position, in the end, the column reflects my personal perspectives on life and the news.

I try hard not to slant the facts, and I often write columns that feature people and views with which I heartily disagree. I also try to be provocative, sometimes describing the contours of an issue in stark terms, largely to prompt the good discussions that take place on the comment boards and here on the big show. But I also relish exploring the grey areas between the well-trod territories of the polarized people who tend to dominate the news.

I have a strong and apparently unpopular view on the D.C. taxi industry, but I think I have repeatedly layed out my reasoning--and that of those who disagree--and time will tell who is right.

On that blog item about teachers' political attitudes, I was simply relating what the professor's study found and there was not much room for any interpretation, so I just put it out there for thought and comment.

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Is the world getting more crazy?: I know every age has its problems, but why is everything so difficult? There is not enough to fund everything that needs to be done, some jobs are disappearing and difficult for many to find, etc. Has the population grown so much and people now expect more and become vocal about what they want? Or does the media spend a lot more time spotlighting problems?

Marc Fisher: It's pretty much a given that at any moment in history, you can find righteous claims that life has never been worse, that we're all going to hell in a handbasket, and that the end is nigh. That's our nature as beasts. Yes, we now have technology that allows us to spread our fears and anxieties more efficiently than ever before, but the root feelings and beliefs that human beings hold don't seem to change much over the great measures of time. I've read plenty of stuff from many periods in history--even from the height of the Renaissance--where great minds are utterly convinced that we are past our prime as a species. Perhaps it's that attitude that spurs us to do the striving that renders those fears moot.

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washingtonpost.com: Pretend Primary '08: Because Our Votes Don't Count ( Raw Fisher, Dec. 13, 2007)

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Silver Spring, Md.: Marc,

Why oh why are certain people in Montgomery County determined to ruin the Live Nation deal? That skunk Seth whatever of the 930 Club jumped into this process when it was over to protect his interests, and now he apparently has the ear of some county council members. Live Nation will be nothing but good for Silver Spring and will continue its development. It's stunning that there are still people who long for the "good old days" of open drug dealing in downtown Silver Spring. I hope you're not one of the moronic anti-development folks.

Marc Fisher: Well, I wouldn't overestimate the extent of the popular unhappiness with the Live Nation deal. The 9:30 Club folks have done a good job of stirring the pot and they have legitimately pointed out real problems with the deal to put a nightclub in downtown Silver Spring with a chunky county subsidy. I don't buy the idea that downtown Silver Spring needs yet another publicly-funded jumpstart. Seems to me things are growing nicely now, and there's a good mix of the new and expensive with the old and funky. That mix is unlikely to survive, of course--that's the nature of how neighborhoods evolve, and there are too many folks who define success as the eradication of those old and funky places. But while I wouldn't have done the Live Nation deal because it's too expensive and too charitable to a huge, profit-making enterprise, I also wouldn't put much credence in the 9:30 club's claims--after all, what they're doing is trying to save themselves from hefty (and yes, unfairly county-subsidized) competition.

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DCPS: Marc, I expect there to be some comments today about D.C. Public Schools, and I would like to toss in a positive comment -- pretty rare when discussing the District schools. Last evening, I attended a performance at Fillmore Arts Center. Fillmore is the central location for arts and music that serves several NW public schools and several in SE (there are two centers). My kids have attended Hyde Elementary in Georgetown, and have gone to Fillmore once each week throughout their time there. Fillmore has given them an amazingly rich experience in art, music, and drama. I know that Fillmore raises money to supplement their budget, but how they do so much with so little is amazing to me.

Seeing the performance also reminded me of the diversity of the school system -- each school west of the park serves many kids from all over the city because of out of boundary attendance -- not just black and white kids, but diplomat kids from all over the world. This is the diversity we want our kids to experience.

I wish I could show everyone the wonderful experience we have had in DCPS. It's far from ideal, but it certainly works -- and works well -- for many, many families.

Marc Fisher: Glad to hear it. I've not had personal experience at Fillmore but I have several friends who swear by its excellent arts instruction programs for kids--it's exactly the kind of program that DCPS should be trying to repeat across the city: A relatively independent, entrepreneurial and specialized program that has the ability to lure back into the system families who had otherwise long ago opted out.

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Illegals and Money: Am I missing something? What taxes aren't illegal immigrants paying? Yes to sales tax and property tax (if they buy a home/car); if they are employed, they are paying income taxes - and if not, it's the employers fault for paying in cash. If on a payroll system, all taxes are already taken out.

Marc Fisher: Sounds right to me--but for those who are offended by the presence of so many illegal immigrants, I don't think it's the failure to pay taxes that they find offensive so much as the fact that they are taking advantage of government services such as health care and roads.

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Springfield, Va.: Marc,

Yesterday's news had a story about a love triangle that ended with an illegal immigrant killing a man using a gun. Will this impact the loopholes that several people, including the Virginia Tech families, are trying to close regarding gun laws and background checks?

Marc Fisher: Not a chance. The gun show loophole that Gov. Kaine tried to close this year will apparently never be closed--it's hard to see how any other conclusion can be reached because if the Virginia Tech shootings didn't drive home the point then it's hard to imagine what will.

If there's a general consensus that certain people--felons, the mentally deranged--ought not be able to buy guns, then the same background checks should apply at gun shows as at Wal-Mart.

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Anonymous: One of the main gripes against illegal immigrants is that they get services/resources they did not pay for, but we do not stop seniors (and I am one) from obtaining Social Security and other benefits once they outweigh what the person paid in. And, of course, we are about to give income tax rebates to some who did not make enough to pay income taxes. And if politicians are so anxious to eliminate amnesty to those who manage to reach our shores, why do we not hear any calling for an end to the law permitting any Cuban coming here, for whatever reason, to get amnesty as soon as they set foot on U.S. soil (a benefit not given to those from other countries run by dictators)? Can you imagine Romney or McCain calling for this in Florida?

Marc Fisher: Well, actually Cubans are now routinely sent back--a change from the old policy of welcoming them with open arms. (This is the "wet feet" policy that came into effect after the last massive wave of escapes.)

But no, in general, you're right--we don't measure one's ability to get government benefits based on how much they've paid into the system. The question with illegal immigrants is not so much that they haven't paid their share but that they arrived here without permission and therefore ought not be eligible for the benefits of life in this society. It's a hard argument to make when our economy is structured in such a way that invites illegals to come here and rewards them with jobs attractive enough that they continue to pour over the border.

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Annandale, Va.: Illegal immigrants and health care costs.

It is not just illegal immigrants that are using emergency room services it is the lack of insured people using these services.

It doesn't matter if they are citizens, legal or illegal immigrants.

Marc Fisher: Quite right--the problem of overuse of emergency rooms goes far, far beyond illegal immigrants. It's something that affects us all--the result of a flawed insurance system that drives tens of millions of folks to use the ER for basic care that would be vastly cheaper if they went to see a doc.

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Baltimore, Md.: Legal immigrants on illegal immigrants: The post from the legal immigrant was illuminating, and not the first of its kind I have read. The people who go through mountains of paperwork and years of waiting in line to get here legally seem often to be the most energized against illegals. I can understand why, especially if you immigrated here from a Latin country.

And the fact is, many lifelong liberal Democrats I know (myself included) are fed up with the government's utter inability to secure our southern border, even as the administration spent the last 6 years "waving the bloody shirt" of 9/11 every time it suited their purposes.

Border patrol agents have reported that Mexican military units cross the border in support of human and drug smuggling operations (as detailed earlier this week on ABC News), yet the White House and Congress simply shrug.

Marc Fisher: Absolutely--the most heartfelt and convincing arguments I've heard against the way we allow illegal immigrants to live and flourish here comes from those who waited and struggled through our cumbersome process of legal immigration. To have gone through that and then see others waltz in without any of those costs or troubles is clearly infuriating.

That said, the bottom line is that there are many jobs that native-born Americans seem unwilling to do, and that creates the need that employers see for breaking the law and hiring illegals.

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Citizenship for babies: Marc, while those who are here legally should still have their children become citizens, those who come across the border a week before they expect their water to break do not deserve the same treatment. Its another example of immigrants abusing the good nature of the U.S. government.

Marc Fisher: But isn't that a border enforcement issue? It used to be much harder than it is now to get on a plane bound for the U.S. if you were seven or eight months pregnant, both because the airlines didn't want the liability that might arise if a birth occurred or went wrong aloft, and because the border authorities didn't want people coming here to create an American citizen. Seems to me the way to stop that is to stop people from getting on the plane.

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Bethesda, Md.: Marc, your column a few days ago on Gov. Moretax J. O'Malley reversing himself on drivers' licenses for illegals and today's column both say that those opposing illegal immigrants are in the minority, yet the only poll I saw on the license issue in Maryland had 70 percent against giving licenses to illegals. How is 70 percent minority?

Marc Fisher: Quite right, but by most measures, illegal immigration is an issue that just doesn't get much of a rise out of voters. Pretty much every poll I've seen shows that while Americans' sense of fairness is offended by the concept of illegal immigration, they don't see much impact of the phenomenon on their daily lives and they don't intend to make choices at the ballot box based on that set of issues. And we've seen in vote after vote that people are true to their word on that--that's how the Democrats took the Virginia Senate last fall.

Politicians in both parties repeatedly told us this week in Richmond that there are small pockets of folks who are deeply upset by illegal immigration, but that on the whole, it doesn't have much in the way of legs when it comes to how people choose whom to vote for.

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NOVA (but not in Tom Davis' district): Any indication who might run to replace Davis (in either party). Is this a seat the Dems should win, given the changing demographics of the district and likely coattails of a probable Democratic win at the top of the ticket, at least in Northern Virginia?

Marc Fisher: He denies it, but the fact is that if Tom Davis's district was not trending inexorably Democratic, he'd still be the congressman for life. Davis is the champion political tea leaf reader in the state, and he knows--and his wife's defeat in her state Senate reelection bid last fall proves--that a Republican candidate is almost a certain loser inside the Beltway in Virginia these days.

So far, the best the GOP can do for a candidate to succeed Davis is to put up a Fairfax school board member--Steve Hunt-- who is hardly a household name. Whereas the Democrats have two big names vying for the seat--former congressman Leslie Byrne and Fairfax board chairman Gerry Connolly.

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Guns for everyone!: Here's what I don't get about the gun-show loophole: If it's some hideous affront to people's rights to force them to go through a background check when they pick up a firearm at a gun show, why is it okay to force them to do so at a gun store? Why aren't these Second Amendment fans making that argument -- abolish background checks altogether!

Marc Fisher: It is curious indeed, but the NRA and its followers draw a distinction that relies heavily on the idea that a private sale is intrinsically different from a purchase at a store. Just as you wouldn't expect to see a background check done if you sold me your gun over dinner at your house one night, they argue that guns sold at gun shows don't deserve the kind of safeguards that stores are required to put in place. The flaw in that reasoning is that it's the nature of a gun show that you are selling to strangers--quite different from a friend-to-friend sale.

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Takoma, D.C.: To the previous poster, about Live Nation: I grew up in Silver Spring and I live a couple of miles from downtown Silver Spring today, and I think the Live Nation deal is ridiculous. I see no reason why a company like that needs county money to succeed. I do not want to see downtown Silver Spring go back to the way it was 20 years ago, but I don't think that one overfunded nightclub is the thin border between success and failure. Have you been down there lately? The place is hopping.

Marc Fisher: Yes, the place is hopping and the overall redevelopment is a huge success. But it is odd that the development hasn't jumped across Georgia Avenue, and that's why the county planners want to make this deal. But in the end, I'm with you--enough subsidies have been pumped into that area and now it's time to let the market do its thing.

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MS-13: FACT -- The vast vast majority of MS-13 gang members are illegal immigrants. Decrease illegal immigration and gang activity in D.C. will fall.

Marc Fisher: Yes, I'm sure you're right, but that's much more easily solved as a criminal matter. Deport anyone who is caught doing crimes here and was here illegally--you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who objects to that. And that is something that's doable, whereas stronger border controls and a rational immigration policy seem to be beyond the ken of our federal government.

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Washington, D.C.: MF: "there are many jobs that native-born Americans seem unwilling to do"

This is a canard that business interests like to push. Native-born Americans may indeed not be willing to do those jobs at the tiny wages that illegal immigrants will accept, but without a glut of illegal immigrant labor on the market, wages for those jobs would have to rise to a fairer level where they would be attractive.

This is probably impossible for a generation or so, because it's probably impossible to get rid of the illegal labor that's already here. Properly securing the border in the future could eventually dry up this extra labor, though, eliminating the downward pressure on wages.

Marc Fisher: Ok, and what's the mechanism by which businesses decide or are encouraged to decide to alter their price schemes and pay scales to make ditch digging and janitorial work higher paying, higher status jobs? I agree it would have the impact you describe, but I don't follow how it would happen.

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Chevy Chase, D.C.: I've heard the argument made many times that, in your words:

"That said, the bottom line is that there are many jobs that native-born Americans seem unwilling to do, and that creates the need that employers see for breaking the law and hiring illegals."

I would be happy to work in a slaughterhouse if the pay and benefits were attractive. If people couldn't be found at the low wages the meatpackers (or other businesses) pay now, the wages would go up, and meat (or something else) would cost more. Or there would be more automation in the factories, because the capital costs would be lower than the ongoing labor costs.

It's not like if the illegal immigrants go home, the jobs won't get done. It may be instead that many citizens who are now low skilled and out of the workforce would be drawn back in.

Marc Fisher: Maybe you're right, but then why do so many business people argue so vociferously that they cannot get Americans to do those less pleasant and harsher jobs? I don't think it's fair to say that all these business folks are making that up--yes, they have a powerful incentive to pay less to their workers, but it's also true that they'd rather avoid breaking the law. I think there's more social resistance to low-end labor than you might like to admit, even among the chronically unemployed sectors of our society.

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Arlington, Va.: Marc, you seemed rather delighted with Maryland's two-tier proposal that would allow it to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The upper-tier REAL ID-compliant licenses will clearly indicate that the bearer is a U.S. citizen or otherwise legally present in the U.S. The other license will clearly indicate that the bearer did not prove their citizenship or legal presence in America.

Where are people getting the idea that Maryland's illegal immigrant population is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to pay for a new ID card that screams "I am an illegal immigrant!"? You'd think they'd either continue to drive without licenses or they'd use false documentation in order to get the "legal immigrant" one. Is this program actually designed to do anything other than stoke a partisan battle to distract the Maryland electorate?

Marc Fisher: Actually, many illegal immigrants have proven that they are indeed willing to do that, because they pay many hundreds of dollars to get through the licensing process. They'd much rather drive legally than face the legal and criminal ramifications if they're caught driving without a license.

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Pregnant women coming to US: I'd love to be a fly on the wall when some TSA guy has the job of asking some woman if she's 8 plus months pregnant or if she's "just fat."

Fact of the matter is, you aren't going to change the constitution and if a baby is born here, it'll have an American birth certificate and will be an American citizen. It's all well and good to just say it should be the citizen of some other county (like the birth mother's) but that country does not have to grant citizenship if the baby wasn't born there (it will of course if the birth parents request it.)

Marc Fisher: Most countries do not share our birthright concept of citizenship, so if you're a German or Frenchman and you are born in Annandale, you're still automatically a German or French citizen--they go by blood, not place of birth, as uncomfortable as that might make many Americans.

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Not Georgia Ave., Colesville Road: Live Nation is on the same side of Georgia as the rest of the Silver Spring development. It's across COLESVILLE.

Marc Fisher: Yes, many thanks--Colesville. My bad.

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Private sale of guns: In Virginia, am I allowed to sell you my gun over dinner? My family has several guns from way back when you didn't need to register them (so I don't think they ever were.) They are in a gun safe in my attic where they will remain until someone else in my family decides to do something with them. Could I sell them to anyone on the side and would they then need to register them with someone?

Marc Fisher: I don't know the details of Virginia law on private gun sales, but I do know that 24 states allow private sales at gun shows, and that federal law creates an exception from background checks for individual, person to person sales.

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Guns: I really just don't understand why people who want to go to a gun show couldn't get some sort of clearance or approval beforehand to buy a gun. A swipe card (like a library card) that maintains your identity and says yes, you're clear to buy a gun. Maybe it would cost $50 or so to register for one, and then you could use it at any gun shop in the state and it would function as a background check.

Marc Fisher: Sounds reasonable to me.

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Springfield, Va.: Well, it's finally happened. Saving money is officially declared to be un-American. Del. Bob Marshall says that saving money on rent is an "unfair advantage." Oops! Better kick my roommate out! I guess everyone relying on public transportation had better watch out too. Your days of unfairly not paying for gas or car insurance are surely numbered!

And don't you dare ask Del. Marshall about clipping coupons. You'll never hear the end of it.

Is this seriously what we've come to in this country? I'm about ready to let the illegal immigrants take over. By deciding to come here they've shown at least ONE good judgment which is more than I can say for many of our elected officials.

Marc Fisher: The good news is that the great majority of the bills aimed at illegal immigrants will never make it out of the Virginia Senate. Both Gov. Kaine and Republican party chairman John Hager told us this week that they expect most of those bills to die and that they should die because they were meant for show or had constitutional problems.

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Washington, D.C.: How to decrease illegal immigration humanely:

1. Help improve the economy of Mexico and Central/South American countries.

2. Improve the legal immigration process to make it easier to become a citizen legally.

3. Penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

And I'm tired of people citing the strict quotas and policies of Ellis Island at the turn of the century. Many of those quotas and policies were based on anti-Semitism and racism, plain and simple. And they resulted in a lot of Jewish refugees sent back to die in the Holocaust, too.

Marc Fisher: Those sound like good steps. And you're right about Ellis Island--while some folks were turned back, a significant portion of those arriving on those ships had no legal standing to be here. Controlling a border is rarely an exact science, even in places that build walls and devote enormous chunks of time and effort to policing who gets in.

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Arlington, Va.: I know the illegal immigrant debate is usually couched in terms of government services and neighborhood upkeep, but honestly, would we be having this debate if groups of non-English speaking, single, 22- year-old women from Sweden were renting out houses all over the area rather than men from Latin America?

Marc Fisher: Very good question.

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Silver Spring, Md.: So, are we willing to pay higher prices for meals, ditches, nursing care, etc., where the low-paid jobs go to lots of illegal immigrants?

If so, problem solved. If not, the job vacuum magnet keeps operating.

Marc Fisher: Exactly.

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Correction of FACT: Today most MS-13 members are the children of illegals born in the U.S., so thay are American citizens.

Additional fact -- fastest growing group of illegals entering the U.S. are not Latinos, they are Caucasians from eastern Europe (old Iron Curtain countries) who originally come on short term work/student visas and then disappear into the country never to leave.

The fact that may people describe immigration issues as a Mexico problem strikes me as having a racial/ethnic bias.

Marc Fisher: You certainly don't hear a whole lot of complaints about Latvians and Slovaks taking over the neighborhood, filling up ERs and stealing attention from our kids in the public schools.

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Illegals dong jobs that Marc doesn't want to?: The problem with that argument is that the U.S. government will ultimately allow in more people legally to satisfy that need for jobs if there was a need. No, the reason business wants illegals is because they are CHEAP. Or at least cheaper than legals. Everything else is a smokescreen and doesn't ultimately matter. And things won't change until enough lower class legal workers force change politically.

Marc Fisher: Yes, but isn't much of the current debate a result of the failure of the immigration authorities and Congress to adjust the quotas and admission standards to bring in enough high-end workers to keep innovation cooking on a high flame and enough low-end workers to stem the demand for illegal labor?

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Washington, D.C.: Whenever the rail gets build it better be a multiple track system. Enough with Metro's 'no-express train possible' nonsense. Hello? If you're going to the airport you better go faster than a car can.

Marc Fisher: Wouldn't that be lovely? But even more expensive than what's been rejected, so probably just a pipe dream....

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Northwest, D.C.: Marc --

I was wondering what the proposed fare from D.C. to Dulles would be if the Metro is ever extended out there?

Obviously revenues from fares will be a drop in the ocean compared with the capital costs of building the system. But currently it costs approx $3 on the Orange Line from WFC and another $8 for the Washington Flyer bus.

I'd happily pay $15 to ride the Metro directly from Dulles, which basically equates to a few bucks surcharge for the convenience of riding the train the entire way.

Now I understand that a $15 Metro ride is not sustainable for commuters, or those who work at the airport, but surely they could create a pass or something for those who ride this route daily.

The Thameslink from Heathrow to Paddington costs $30 (15 quid). I'd say a $15 train ride to Dulles is a bargain.

I know this suggestion will cause outrage among the many Metro riders who feel that minor fare increases are totally unacceptable, but I really hope that they proposed this higher level of pricing in their planning.

One of the biggest challenges that the proposed extension faces is simply the fact that not enough people in this area live close enough to a Metro station to make it a worthwhile proposition to get the train to the airport.

I always roll my suitcase a couple of blocks to the Metro to get to DCA, IAD or BWI, but those who would have to drive or ride a bus to the station are quite reasonable in thinking that it would make more sense simply to drive or Supershuttle out to the airport.

I'm interested in your thoughts.

Marc Fisher:$15 is an awful lot for a Metro ride. But you're right that travelers to airports are often willing to pay big money and I'd vastly prefer to take the train to Heathrow than suffer in a cab for endless hours of traffic. So yes, if the previous poster's idea about an express service could ever become reality, why not charge a high price for it. But if you have to stop on every street corner in Tysons on the way out to Dulles, the tolerance for a hefty price will be much lower.

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Arlington, Va.: I find it amusing that Senator Cuccinelli sponsors so many anti-immigrant bills. Of course, his family were probably legal immigrants (as were mine) but there were no quotas before the 1920's and anybody who didn't have a contagious disease could immigrate freely. I do know that many of the Irish in New England came through Canada and clearly didn't bother with the regulations relating to immigration that my grandparents did at Ellis Island.

Marc Fisher: And even at Ellis Island, there were lots of ways around the legal channels.

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Ballston, Va.: Marc,

You are as alarmist as the people you're against. Those with the financial ability have to pay for their jail time in some places, charging court fees is just a logical extension.

Also, don't play up the cost of checking on illegal immigration unless you consider the cost of not providing some services. That is very dishonest.

Marc Fisher: Right, both are expensive. I don't see where this is driven by cost concerns--rather, it's a combination of the social costs as neighborhoods change and people worry about their property values, and the tensions that people feel about declining job prospects.

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Annapolis, Md.: Marc,

I find the legal/illegal immigration discussions frustrating, because I don't hear enough about streamlining the legal process. I'm in engineering grad school, and at least 30-40 percent(maybe more) of my colleagues are foreign. They are research assistants, which means they get a small stipend, enough for an apartment and Ramen noodles, and tuition remission. After they have been paid to earn their Ph.D.s in engineering, with funds that most frequently derive from the DOD, many of them are told that they can't get green cards. Others have to struggle for years to get one. If they finally are granted residency, they find it hard to get jobs, because they can't get security clearances. It doesn't make sense to me that we pay people to do cutting edge research, then make it difficult, frustrating, and sometimes humiliating for them to stay here and contribute to our society. It's as if we are telling them to take our expensive, state of the art research back to wherever they come from.

Contrast this weird situation to all the many people who are willing to fight for unskilled labor to come here in vast numbers, and I don't know what to think. I know I don't like the idea that some people are given a free pass to break some laws, while others who are born here are shown the harshest face of justice for any and all infractions. (Trying 14-year-olds as adults, long jail terms for minor drug possession, etc.)

Marc Fisher: Good post--this is the part of our immigration policy that I think will have the greatest and most damaging long term impact. Our failure to make it easier for great students and scholars to come here to study and become our next generation of technological innovators is a terribly self-destructive act that we will come to regret.

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Anonymous:"I don't think it's the failure to pay taxes that they find offensive so much as the fact that they are taking advantage of government services such as health care and roads."

Wrong. It offends me that they have knowingly broken the law to even be here.

Marc Fisher: Yes, exactly--it's the basic unfairness of their arrival here that offends, not some accounting of who pays for and who gets services.

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Arlington, Va.: Many illegal immigrants are paid off the books in cash. That way the employer doesn't have to pay his share of Social Security, unemployment and other taxes. Also in the building trades the insurance cost for on the job injuries is reduced. The employer figures who are they going to complain to? They don't think they will go the authorities. And since no records exist difficult to prove.

Marc Fisher: All the more reason to have the feds create some regularization of their presence so they can be counted, identified and taxed properly.

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Washington, D.C.: Taxes, politics, immigration... enough of all that. Pitchers and catchers report two weeks from today!

Marc Fisher: Now everybody exhale.

Thanks for that segue--coming up Tuesday on Raw Fisher Radio, right here on the big web site, I'll spend some time talking with guests about the new Nationals Park and its impact on rush hour commutes, the prospects for parking and getting to the ballpark, and the relations with the surrounding neighborhoods. That's at noon Tuesday on washingtonpost.com

Thanks for coming along, all. Back in the paper on Sunday, in both Metro and Style & Arts. And the blog is up every day. Next week, more politics than you can eat.

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