Managing attorney for the Virginia Justice Center Tim Freilich debates his opponent’s tough-on-immigrants stance at the Northside Library Wednesday, September 13.
“I agree with you on one thing,” Tim Freilich, managing attorney with the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers, a statewide project of the Legal Aid Justice Center said. “Our immigration system is broken.” Beyond that, Freilich and Dale McGlothlin, chief of operations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, could agree on little else at a debate sponsored by the Senior Statesmen on Wednesday, September 13. The topic was immigration.
With one in 10 Virginians born outside the United States, and an Hispanic population of 3,000 in Albemarle County, the national immigration debate could well have implications here. Local supporters for illegal immigrants rallied at the Albemarle County Office Building earlier this month, and last Wednesday’s debate at Northside Library was the latest installment on the national topic. At issue were things like a national fence on the country’s southern border, amnesty and guest worker programs and whether to criminalize undocumented status.
McGlothlin, whose Washington, D.C.-based organization lobbies for sweeping immigration reform, took the hard line. “There are no jobs Americans won’t do,” he said, asserting that if immigrants didn’t occupy low-wage positions, Americans would work in labor sectors for fair treatment and good pay.
Freilich countered, “There are some bad jobs out there.” His organization takes legal action against employers who treat immigrant workers unfairly. Freilich mentioned some of his cases, like the boss who wrote “VOID” in the memo line of a paycheck given to workers who didn’t speak English.
Freilich also stressed the difficulty in determining a worker’s illegal status. “You can’t tell if someone’s undocumented just by looking at them,” he said.
“It’s important for all Virginians to demand that Congress pass comprehensive immigration reform that recognizes the contributions of Virginia’s hardworking immigrants. …We all benefit mightily from their contributions to our economy,” Freilich says.
It has been estimated there are about 200,000 to 250,000 undocumented immigrants in Virginia; Freilich says there are about 40,000 immigrant farm workers who contribute to Virginia’s economy.