Dispatches: Herndon, VA

Herndon Zeroing In On Illegal Immigrants: Policies Could Affect Police, Businesses:

Herndon's decision Tuesday night to seek federal training for some of its police officers so they can enforce federal immigration law is part of a long-term effort by a new mayor and Town Council to aggressively curb the presence of residents who are in the country illegally.

Two proposals on the draft agenda for next week's council session would intensify the town's scrutiny of private employers. One would require anyone seeking a business license to prove legal immigration status. The other would compel contractors doing business with the town to provide evidence that their employees live in the United States legally.

The measures are likely to enlarge Herndon's role as a crucible in the national debate on immigration policy -- a position that town officials say they were forced into because of inaction by the federal government. The proposals also add fuel to charges from immigration advocates and some residents that Herndon, which has the largest proportion of foreign-born residents of any locality in the Washington area, has become implacably hostile to all immigrants, legal and illegal.

Illegal immigration has been the dominant issue in town politics since summer 2005, when the council voted, after bitter debate, to open a publicly funded center to help workers connect with employers....

In May, Herndon voters unseated Mayor Michael L. O'Reilly and two council members who supported the publicly funded facility and replaced them with challengers, including new Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis, who were highly critical of the idea...

Business licenses have traditionally served as revenue-raising instruments, with governments charging owners a set percentage of projected gross sales. But in an advisory opinion this summer, Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell said local governments can withhold licenses from applicants who are not living legally in the United States...

The council's 6 to 1 vote late Tuesday authorizes town officials to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to express interest in enrolling some officers in the agency's "287 (g)" program, a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act...

In a hearing preceding the vote, supporters of the program said it would take criminals off the streets.

"You guys were elected because you said you would take action," Brenda Kelley, a 21-year resident of the town, told the council. "We all want safe, secure, happy, respectful neighborhoods."

"Herndon has a chance to lend a helping hand to federal immigration agents," Stacey Brooks said.