Sen. Warner responds to tragedy

Prince William County, Va. - The death of a nun stemming from a Bristow Road car crash involving an illegal immigrant underscores the need for policy reform on Capitol Hill, said Sen. Mark Warner during a telephone interview.

"It's a tragedy," the Virginia Democrat said Friday of the Aug. 1 accident that left Sister Denise Mosier, 66, dead at the scene and two of her fellow sisters in critical condition.

Carlos Martinelly Montano, 23, an illegal immigrant from Bolivia with two prior driving-under-the-influence convictions and a scheduled deportation hearing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforce-ment officials, was arrested for drunken driving and manslaughter.

"This is why we desperately need bipartisan immigration reform," Warner said. "At the end of the day, we've got to have a system where the employer can verify the legal status before they hire someone … and right now, we don't have anything like that."

Warner addressed the issue during a conference call for reporters Friday at 11 a.m. to announce a partner-ship between the Army and the Northern Virginia Technology Council to improve record-keeping at Ar-lington National Cemetery and prevent future misidentification of remains.

Sen. Jim Webb -- his office was first contacted Aug. 4 for response to the accident and to address federal immigration policy -- didn't have time to speak, said one of his communications officials in a fol-lowup telephone call placed Friday morning.

The senators were asked for comment primarily because local and state politicians in Virginia from both political parties have spent the past few days pointing fingers at Congress and the White House for weak immigration policy or for lax enforcement of law.

"It's a federal problem," said Sen. Charles Colgan, D-29th Dist., the latest in a list that includes Democratic Sen. George Barker, 39th-Dist., Republican delegates Bob Marshall, 13th-Dist., Scott Lingamfelter, 31st-Dist., and Jackson Miller, 50th-Dist., and county Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, R-at-large, to either criticize the federal government or question whether the nun would still be alive if politics didn't play such a role in immigration policy.

"I can't understand why the people in this country don't put more pressure on Wash-ington to solve the problem," Colgan said. "They'll put more pressure on local, on state governments, but they need to put pressure on the White House and Congress. The solution is not compli-cated. Obey the law."

Meanwhile, state political battles over immigration do wage on. The latest pits the American Civil Liberties Union versus Marshall, who's defending Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

On Thursday, the ACLU sent a letter to police chiefs around the commonwealth that basically told them to ignore Cuccinelli's July 30 opinion, in which he concluded that law enforcement, including conser-vation officers, do in fact hold authority to inquire about immigration status from those who are stopped or arrested. Cuccinelli's opinion came at the request of Marshall, who wanted a clarification of what laws were already on the books so he could better prepare for the next legislative session.

The ACLU responded swiftly and in an Aug. 5 letter, dismissed Cuccinelli;s opinion as baseless.

"It is important to note that the attorney general cites no Virginia statute or other state law as the basis for law enforcement's authority to inquire about immigration status. He simply asserts that such authority exists," Rebecca Glenberg, legal director for the ACLU, wrote. "For these reasons, law enforcement agencies should not accept the attorney general's invitation to investigate immigration status."

But Marshall, as of Friday, took the last word.

"It's a little bit concerning then ACLU is trying to insert itself into the line of law enforcement in Virginia. When the top law enforcement officer in Virginia gave his opinion … and now they're telling the chiefs of police to not abide the law, that's crossing the line," he said.

In further response, Marshall has sent his own memorandum to sheriff's departments in Virginia referencing the need to stay on alert for gang and terrorist activity, and repeating the attorney gen-eral's opinion that it's legal to ask about immigration status from those who are detained or arrested.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-530-3903.