Immigrant-rights advocates are pleading with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to veto several measures headed to his desk for fear that they will increase ethnic profiling and hurt the economy.

Representatives from several groups delivered to Kaine's office yesterday a letter outlining concerns about bills that would increase fines for residential overcrowding, deny bail to undocumented immigrants, suspend driving rights for someone caught driving without a license and penalize employers for hiring undocumented immigrants.

"We're here to say that the ordinary working people of Virginia do not want to see this climate of fear and hatred and division being fostered in our names," said Jeff Winder of The People United.

"And we're standing together to say that these bills, they hurt us all," he said. "They affect our public safety, they affect the kind of environment that we want our children to grow up in and we want the governor to put a stop to what the Virginia General Assembly was unwilling to stop."

Although a multitude of bills aimed at undocumented immigrants were filed in this year's General Assembly session, immigration-rights advocates fared well, said Cristina Rebeil of the Virginia Immigrant Peoples Coalition.

Some of the bills they sought to block passed and one they favored failed, but some of the most severe bills died.

Senate Bill 113 passed the House of Delegates and Senate and awaits Kaine's signature. It would allow a court to suspend for up to 90 days the driving privileges of someone convicted of driving without a license. Rebeil said that bill could lead to profiling.

"We're very concerned that's going to increase," she said.

Senate Bill 623 and House Bill 440, denying bail to illegal immigrants, would create a class of people denied bail based on a factor unrelated to dangerousness, she said. Lawmakers argued there is a reasonable expectation that illegal immigrants pose a higher flight risk. Kaine has already signed House Bill 440.

House Bill 1107 would increase the fines for repeatedly violating ordinances regulating the number of unrelated people who can live in a single-family residence. It also has been approved by both chambers.

Kaine's press secretary, Gordon Hickey, said Kaine has repeatedly stressed the need for caution when considering bills dealing with illegal immigration.

In addition to the bail bill, Kaine indicates that he is likely to support measures penalizing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Winder of The People United said the immigrants potentially affected by the legislation are part of the community and are making positive contributions.

"Many of them are people whose ancestors are indigenous to this land, whose history dates back far beyond the time when European conquests imposed these artificial borders," he said.
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.