Governor McDonnell Wants More Power to Enforce Immigration Laws

Governor McDonnell announced yesterday that he has asked the Department of Homeland Security for a 287(g) agreement, which permits the state to step up enforcement of federal law. According to the Roanoke times, "the range of powers will depend on the terms of any agreement between state and federal officials."

The Roanoke times also reported that:

Under that program, officers from approved law enforcement agencies get federal instruction on identifying illegal immigrants, avoiding racial profiling, immigration laws and using a federal immigration database to identify and report illegal immigrants.

In his Aug. 10 request, the governor referred to "addressing those aliens who are engaged in major drug offenses or violent offenses such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and kidnapping, as well as DUI offenses."

I applaud the Governors approach. We have avoided dealing with this problem long enough.