U.N. official to visit Prince William to study illegal-immigration policy

Jorge Bustamante, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on migrants’ rights, plans to tour Manassas and Woodbridge, receive briefings on local enforcement measures, and attempt to meet with local officials.

He contacted immigrant leaders in the county two months ago to begin preparing for a visit, saying he was interested in the landmark nature of the county’s actions.

Special rapporteurs are tasked with reviewing human-rights issues of international concern to raise political pressure and shape public opinion, but cannot issue sanctions.

The international examination follows a December visit from the Virginia advisory panel of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, which has yet to release a report on the county’s actions.

A Mexican native and Notre Dame University sociology professor, Bustamante has reviewed treatment of migrants in Guatemala and Mexico and toured the United States during a three-week review of American immigration policies last year.

County Chairman Corey Stewart said he is willing to meet with Bustamante, but sharply rebuked the international body for what he called an anti-American agenda.

“They’ve got a history of trying to embarrass the United States while turning a blind eye to the regimes that are actually not just committing human-rights abuses, but engaged in genocide,” Stewart said.

The county Board of Supervisors approved a policy in the fall ordering police officers to conduct residency checks of suspected illegal immigrants who were questioned for crimes or traffic violations. Changes announced this week will require police officers to check the legal status of everyone arrested.

Hundreds of legal and illegal immigrants have moved out of the county to avoid the policy, leading to a drop of more than 750 students in the county’s public school programs for English-language learners.

Prince William County’s measures deserve more scrutiny, said Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union. “It is serving as a model of what not to do when it comes to addressing immigrant issues at a local level,” he said.

But the United Nations should not have a role, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “Our immigration policy is not a subject for the U.N. or any foreign institution, pure and simple.”