Cuccinelli down on Stewart's Rule of Law

 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office recently released an opinion which stated that provisions of  Prince William Chairman Corey Stewart’s  “Virginia Rule of Law” are unconstitutional or redundant.

Stewart’s proposed statewide legislation mirrors and goes beyond an ordinance passed in Prince William County in 2007.

Del. L. Scott Lingamfleter, R-Dale City, requested that Cuccinelli’s office review Stewart’s proposal.

One of the provisions in Stewart’s proposal would require  police to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest.

In a letter to Lingamfelter, the Public Safety and Enforcement Division of Cuccinelli’s office stated that Virginia already permits officers to ask about immigration status.

Stewart said that simply allowing  police officers to check immigration status isn’t enough. Checking needs to be a requirement, Stewart said.

“The attorney general needs to understand that having the authority to check immigration status is not enough. Without the mandate that officers check immigration status, the officer is left exposed to racial profiling charges,” Stewart said. “It’s absolutely necessary that the General Assembly mandate the checks.”

Cuccinelli’s opinion also called into question Stewart’s proposal that jails notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement of prisoners they’re holding who are  illegal immigrants.

The opinion stated that jail officials already do that under the “Secure Communities” partnership with ICE and that jailers routinely send fingerprints and other  “biometrics” to the feds. 

Stewart said immigration status has to be checked sooner in the process since some illegal immigrants could be released. 

“If the magistrate doesn’t know whether or not a person is an illegal immigrant, he doesn’t know whether or not to keep the person in jail or release him on a summons,” Stewart said. “You have to do the check by the time the individual is brought before the magistrate.”

Stewart, who reports that he has more than 16,000 signatures supporting his proposed legislation, said he understood Cuccinelli’s concerns that the federal government would challenge  efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, but said that Prince William County’s ordinance proved that any state law would be legal. 

“That’s what we’re trying to do is take Prince William County’s policy and adopt it on a statewide basis,”Stewart said.

Stewart’s latest proposal contains considerably more provisions than the Prince William County resolution and Cuccinelli objected to many of those provisions, including one that allows a person’s immigration status to be allowed in any court.

The opinion showed that that provision had the potential to “run afoul” of federal law.

The memo also stated that Stewart’s proposal also contained provisions similar to those found in Arizona’s illegal immigration law that were enjoined by federal court.

Stewart said that a ruling on  Arizona law would not affect laws in  Virginia.

 “He said that the federal district court’s decision in Arizona was binding on Virginia. That’s simply untrue. Any first-year law student would tell you that that’s incorrect,” Stewart said.

Stewart said the additional provisions were a list of various pieces of legislation introduced by various states across the nation.

“It was never meant to be introduced as legislation,” he said.

Stewart said he was surprised at the opposition from Cuccinelli’s office.

“I’m very disappointed. I run into a lot of opposition in fighting illegal immigration and almost all of that opposition comes from either pro-amnesty and the Washington Post  and other liberals. I certainly didn’t expect this  attack from the back by Cuccinelli,” Stewart said.

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.