"He's riled by restaurants in his region that display a Mexican flag, and he thinks President Bush is wrong on the new immigration bill.

Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount, is Virginia's most outspoken foe in Congress of illegal immigration. He made clear in an interview Thursday that a broad immigration compromise under debate in the Senate won't get his support.

"I'm opposed to it. It provides amnesty," Goode said on the same day that Bush declared the opposite.

Goode is a conservative who advocated building a fence on the south ern border long before it grew popular in Congress. His opposition to the immigration overhaul, and that of some like-minded conservatives, illustrates part of the challenge that the bill faces.

"I think he's wrong," Goode said about Bush's assertion regarding amnesty. He said he hears "sidewalk talk" in his area that illegal immigrants tell people they came to the United States, stay a few years and will get to stay permanently, he said. "That's amnesty. That's exactly what this bill does."

Separately, Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-Henrico and chief deputy Republican whip, announced his opposition to what he called the "Senate Amnesty Bill." The Senate proposal does not go far enough to secure the nation's borders or give local law enforcement the tools needed to keep America safe, he said.

"Our borders are porous. We need to be able to determine which people are coming into our country to work hard, and which people are coming here to do us harm. The [Senate] bill does not satisfy this need," Cantor said in a statement.

Goode also discussed several factors - including concern over protecting U.S. cultural identity, a threat to jobs held by citizens, and concern about inadequate U.S. law enforcement - that have helped make immigration probably the hottest issue for his constituents the 5th District.

That district includes parts Southside Virginia - economically hard-hit Danville and Martinsville among them - as well as Charlottesville.

Goode said many constituents were upset to see the Mexican flag flown in street protests.

And in little towns in his district and across the line in North Carolina, "They've got a Mexican flag in these restaurants. They've got one on Main Street in Rocky Mount! They've got one on Tanyard Road in Rocky Mount!"" (The Daily Progress, May 25, 2007)