One of those colleagues, Herndon Mayor Michael O’Reilly, voted for the day labor center.
Although he acknowledges that illegal immigration is the feds’ responsibility, he’s confused about his own. After Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit, O’Reilly issued this statement:

It is unfortunate that this organization is using the Herndon day worker issue to pursue an agenda to attempt to influence or reform federal immigration policy. Clearly the national immigration issue needs to be handled by Congress and the executive branch and not by small local governments such as Herndon.

Americans have a right to influence government policy and petition the government for redress. Citizens of Herndon elected legislators to write laws and a mayor to execute those laws, and they have the constitutional right – a duty – to complain when those officials shirk those responsibilities. 

O’Reilly added: “We strongly urge those interested in the national immigration issue to communicate their questions and concerns to their federal representatives in Congress and the Senate who have the ability to address them.”

I wonder if the mayor followed his own advice before he voted for an illegal enterprise designed to benefit illegal aliens and their illegal employers at taxpayers’ expense in violation of federal law. I guess the buck has to stop somewhere, and Herndon’s mayor wants his constituents to know it doesn’t stop at his office.

Correction: In Part I, I wrote that illegal immigrants “flood across the border at the rate of one million a year.” About half a million illegal aliens enter the U.S. annually. 

La Shawn Barber is a freelance writer who blogs at www.lashawnbarber.com. Read Part I of A Nation of Outlaws.