Guest Post by Morbo
Loudoun County, Va., is an outer suburb of Washington, D.C., with an attitude problem.
Every few years, some folks in the county get all worked up about some right-wing bugbear. Back in the 1990s, they were up in arms over gay-related materials in the libraries and temporarily fell under the sway of a Religious Right group called “Family Friendly Libraries.”
This year the big fuss is over illegal immigrants. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors directed county officials to prepare a report finding ways to deny public services to illegals.
The report was duly written, and it noted that not much can be done. Most of the social-service programs people use, it pointed out, are federal in nature. Loudoun can’t cut them off.
The report did note that some services are purely local — such as youth sports leagues. However, it cautioned against denying access in these cases as well.
The largest program that the county has the authority to restrict is parks and recreation, which includes summer camps and youth sports. County officials also have the authority to limit some homeless programs and commuter bus services, the report says.
But the report also says that children could be left at home unattended if excluded from after-school programs, and homeless illegal immigrants could be left on the streets. And the more documentation that is required to get services, the longer the lines will be at county offices, it says.
So it has come to this: Right-wingers are so obsessed over illegal immigration that they are seriously considering kicking their children out of soccer leagues. That’s not just cruel, it’s also stupid.
One of the problems the bashers of illegal immigrants bring up constantly is gangs. As far as I know, there is precious little evidence that gangs composed primarily of illegals are a problem in Loudoun County, but for the sake of argument, let’s say this is a legitimate concern. One way to combat gangs is to make sure young people have something to do after school and on the weekends, something positive and uplifting – like a sports program.
The view among some people in Loudoun County seems to be, “If we just make life here intolerable for illegal aliens, they will go away.” Not only is that short-sighted, it also demonstrates an incredible lack of common sense. After all, as you pursue this goal, what type of community are you making for yourselves?
P.S. I don’t mean to smear everyone in Loudoun County. I know there are lots of good progressives there. During the library flap, they organized and saved the threatened materials. Their moderate voice is needed again.