George,

Virgil was obsessed with this topic during the last campaign. Everywhere we made joint appearances, he would rant and rave about the need to protect our borders. Then he would seamlessly segue into a chilling diatribe against illegal immigrants - how they steal jobs from real Americans and destroy Virginia's farm economy. Seems he needs someone to blame for his own failures to bring federal resources and remedies to bear on the 5th District's shameful unemployment and economic losses. The "them" in this case are the hapless undocumented aliens who have no voice of their own and who can't vote for their Congressperson. What can Virgil lose by making them his targets? He neglects to mention, of course, that Virginia does not share a border with any foreign country, but that's a minor complication.

P.S. Did you know that there are currently 30,000 undocumented alients in active military service in this country and that 1300 of them were among the first soldiers to fight in Iraq? Seems they are good enough to pay taxes, fight and die for their adopted country, but not good enough to get a Virginia drivers license, pay in-state tuition or receive public assistance (not to mention the right to vote).

Meredith Richards (electronic mail, June 10, 2003)