To the editor:
I want to remind our county Sheriff and Board of Supervisors that Fairfax County must stick to our Trust Policy. They must not make any voluntary exceptions to work with ICE because doing so puts innocent people at risk.
As a Reston native and educator with more than 15 years of experience in public and private schools in northern Virginia, I have built countless relationships with immigrant students and families. It’s been devastating to see parents unable to take their kids to school or participate in parent events, for fear of being permanently taken away from their families and homes. It’s awful to see children trying to function while living in fear of losing parents or siblings to an unnecessary politics.
We cannot allow others to criminalize the rich contributions that
immigrants make in our community. The simple act of relocating or merely existing should never be “wrong” or “dangerous.” In fact, immigrants are less dangerous and statistically less likely to commit crimes than those of us born in the USA.
Elisa Jácome, an economist and professor at Northwestern University co-conducted a study showing that immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than those of us who were born here. The American Immigration Council analyzed crime data against demographic data and found that between 1980 and 2022, immigration had doubled but crime had fallen more than 60%.
Our neighborhoods are safer and more beautiful when we have immigrant neighbors. Being surrounded by other languages, cultural arts, cuisines, religious practices, fashions, and more helps us grow our perspective on the world and our place in it.
We need to focus our attention legislatively and as a community on protecting and partnering with immigrants in our community, not with threatening, disparaging, or detaining them — nor deliberately tearing apart their families.
Bethany Davis
Reston