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Herrity tackles thorny immigration issue
Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity made a rare visit to Herndon last week as a guest speaker for a public presentation made by anti-illegal-immigration group Help Save Herndon (HSH).
The group's founder, Phillip Jones, showed digital slides depicting "beer drinking in the bushes," "open-air toilets" and other conditions found within the town that he attributed to illegal aliens. "We're getting hit hard by illegal aliens," he said. "Herndon is being decimated. We are almost back to where we were two years ago."
HSH was instrumental in getting the town's current mayor and a majority of the town council elected in 2006, but Jones said that these days Herndon Mayor Steve DeBenedittis does not return e-mails sent by the group.
HSH "will now work toward getting them unelected," Jones told The Times.
Jones, who claims that illegals routinely steal vegetables from his garden, said at the Oct. 16 presentation that Dranesville Supervisor John Foust also "does not answer e-mails and does not want to address the illegal alien problem."
"That's why we invited Supervisor Herrity," Jones answered an audience member when she asked why a Springfield supervisor was speaking to the Herndon issue.
"Any dialogue you have on this issue is a healthy dialogue," added Herrity.
Herrity, 49, is the son of former board chairman Jack Herrity. He has become the de facto Republican leader on the 10-member Fairfax County Supervisors board, which consists of two Republicans and eight Democrats.
Herrity is widely regarded to be one of two members on the board likely to be a candidate for the chairman's position, should current chairman Gerry Connolly win in his bid for the 11th District congressional seat on Nov. 4. Democrat Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) is the other likely candidate.
""It is so obvious that [illegal aliens] are coming here because of policies implemented in Prince William County," Herrity told the HSH audience. "As chairman, I will try to define the [illegal alien] problem and see what it is costing us," he replied when asked how he would address the issue if elected chairman.
In the meantime, Herrity instructed Herndon residents to plant Pyracantha bushes. "It's got a mean thorn to it," he laughed.
Herndon Mayor Steve DeBenedittis did not return phone calls to The Times, but Supervisor Foust denied Jones' assertion that he does not return e-mails. "That is not accurate," he said.
Foust IS unresponsive to Herndon constituents. Foust was aware of the meeting but said he could not attend because of prior commitments. Even with prior commitments, Foust could have sent a staff member to attend on his behalf.
Mayor DeBenedittis is caught between a rock and a hard place. He is in a "house divided" with members of his family actively involved in the pro-illegal alien movement, while he was elected on an anti-illegal alien platform.
The number of illegal aliens congregating at the Elden Street/Alabama Drive corner is growing. It not only is unsightly, it is representative of a new migration of illegal aliens to the town.
Herndon now must make the tough call to either do nothing and welcome illegal aliens to the town, or crack down like Prince William County. There is no middle of the road.
Posted by junes_reston
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