By KEITH WALKER
kwalker@manassasjm.com
A group of four Virginia activists will travel to Mexico this week and cross back into the United States on Saturday without carrying government identification.
The action by The People United is designed to draw attention to what its organizers see as the base cause for illegal immigration.
"We want people to realize the larger structural reasons for people immigrating to the United States," said Virginia Leavell, an organizer for the People United and member of Mexicans Without Borders. "Immigration to the United States is the direct result of trade policies that the U.S. passes like the North American Free Trade Agreement."
The People United statements say that NAFTA created "vast disparities of wealth and power" between Mexico and the United States.
The group's decision to make the crossing just west of Nogales, Mexico, along immigrant trails, in an unpopulated area of the desert was influenced by the Prince William County illegal immigration resolution, said Leavell, who grew up on a farm outside of Charlottesville.
Organization members attended the 12-hour Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting in October when the resolution was passed. About 200 people spoke at the meeting. The split between those who spoke in favor of the resolution and those who opposed it was about even.
"That was really a spark for us that there needed to be more dramatic action," Leavell said of the vote to pass the resolution.
Leavell said the The People United is worried that other jurisdictions will enact similar ordinances.
"We don't want hate politics and racist legislation to get passed in other parts of the state," she said.
Staff writer Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.
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