Walter Tejada

Tejada: No Chance of In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada would like to see the children of illegal immigrants in Virginia offered in-state tuition at public universities — but he’s not kidding himself.

On WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, Tejada said that Virginia Republicans, including Gov. Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, would never support such a plan.

“I don’t think that there’s a chance right now [given] the political environment,” Tejada said.

A woman who called into the show questioned the wisdom of granting illegal immigrant children in-state college tuition when they would be unable to legally obtain a job in the United States.

The children of illegal immigrants still must go through the same college admission process as other students, Tejada argued. He said that illegal immigrant children should be given the same opportunities as the children of legal Virginia residents.

“We have the best and the brightest — some who are valedictorians — we are not allowing them to continue their education,” Tejada said. “It is wrong.”

Tejada says that he supports comprehensive immigration reform.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Tejada, Moran Get ‘Snippy’ Over Immigration — At a work session Monday afternoon, County Board member Walter Tejada and Rep. Jim Moran got in a verbal ‘tussle’ when Tejada suggested that Democrats have not done much recently to advance the cause of immigration rights on a federal level. [Sun Gazette]

Westover Farmers Market Delayed — Organizers had hoped to launch a farmers market in Westover this spring, but it looks like red tape will delay their goal by a year. Farmers market boosters have secured verbal approval to use school property for the market, but the county zoning office says it will not grant a use permit until the county ordinance related to farmers markets is changed. [Falls Church News-Press]

W-L Launches New Student Newspaper Web Site — Washington-Lee High School’s Crossed Sabres student newspaper has a new web site. [W-L Crossed Sabres]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Storms Rip Through Area — A line of strong storms ripped through the area in the pre-dawn hours this morning. Winds in excess of 60 miles per hour were observed as the fast-moving storms passed by around 4:30 a.m. A tornado warning was issued for the region, but Arlington was spared from the worst of the storm damage. Expect showers, gusty winds and colder temperatures for the rest of the morning. [Washington Post]

Tejada Plans Ballston Rally — County board member Walter Tejada kicked off his re-election campaign over the weekend at the Dominion Hills Recreation Center. Tejada lauded the county’s commitments to affordable housing, walkable neighborhoods, and fiscal responsibility. He is now planning a rally in Ballston tomorrow — no word yet on when or where exactly the rally will take place. (Update at 12:20 p.m. — The rally will be held outside the NRECA building at 4301 Wilson Blvd at 6:30 p.m., prior to the Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting.)

New Signature Theatre Line-Up Announced — Signature Theatre’s upcoming 2011-2012 season schedule has been revealed. Among the shows planned are The Hollow, based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Hairspray, the 2003 Tony Award winner for best musical; Brother Russia, a rock musical about a “comically fourth-rate Russian theatre troupe;” and Xanadu, based on the 1980 cult film starring Olivia Newton-John. [Signature Theatre]

Clint Eastwood and Crew Drop By Arlington Home — Last week crews were busy scurrying about North Arlington filming scenes for the Leo DiCaprio-headlined production of  ‘J. Edgar.’ Among the locations where filming took place was kitchen of one family’s house. DiCaprio, director Clint Eastwood and dozens of crew members took over the Rasmussen family’s home to film one scene for the movie. [Washington Post]

Immigration Group to Receive County Human Rights Award

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington Coalition Against the Secure Communities Program, which successfully lobbied the county board to attempt to opt out of the federal Secure Communities immigration enforcement program, will receive the county’s James B. Hunter Human Rights Award later this week.

According to a press release, the coalition “assisted Arlington Board Member Walter Tejada in the development of a resolution he introduced in late September.” The resolution passed unanimously. Ultimately, the county determined that it was not practically possible to opt out of the program.

“Leading up to the vote, coalition members distributed thousands of petitions, fact sheets and emails to residents and organized and engaged in public forums to discuss the flaws of the Secure Communities program,” the coalition said in a statement. “The work to stop the program is far from over but the Coalition remains steadfast in its mission to halt the Secure Communities program because it encourages racial profiling, destroys families, destroys the trust in police and circumvents our criminal justice system.”

The coalition will receive its award at 7:00 Thursday night at the county board room. Last year’s winners of the James B. Hunter Award included the Arlington Food Assistance Center, the Literary Council of Northern Virginia, a pastor who worked to help those with AIDS and an attorney who helps the elderly and those with disabilities. The award is presented by the Arlington Human Rights Commission.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Bayou Bakery Opens, Officially — “Come and get it,” the press release says — Bayou Bakery is “officially” open today, albeit with (unspecified) limited hours and a limited menu. The cafe/restaurant/bakery, in the old Camille’s space at 1515 North Courthouse Road, was unofficially open on Friday and Saturday.

Tejada Expresses Frustration Over Secure Communities Doublespeak — County board member Walter Tejada, who led the charge to opt out of the federal Secure Communities immigration initiative, is not happy about the mixed signals coming out of the Department of Homeland Security. At first the department signaled that localities could opt out of the program, only to later clarify that it was next to impossible to do so. “If that had been the case why didn’t they tell us in May?” Tejada asked. More from the Washington Post.

Lyon Park Has Extra Tulip Bulbs — The Lyon Park Citizens Association is trying to give away extra tulip bulbs to its neighbors. The community received the bulbs from the National Park Service’s Tulip Library and planted most of them earlier this month. The excess bulbs are now up for grabs. Tara-Leeway Heights is among the neighborhoods considering vying for a tulip donation.

Arlington Schools Get More iPads — Arlington Public Schools have received a $70,000 grant that will go toward the purchase of 120 new Apple iPads. The $499 devices will be shared by students at Barrett, Carlin Springs and Randolph elementary schools. The donation will supplement a state education grant of 70 iPads received by Arlington in September.

Flickr pool photo by Reid Kasprowicz

County Presses for Clarification on Secure Communities

By ARLnow.com

At the board’s behest, Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan sent a letter to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton yesterday, seeking clarification on whether Arlington can withdraw from the Secure Communities program, and, if it can, how it may do so.

“We need to ask him to clarify this conflicting information we’ve been getting,” county board member Walter Tejada said in a telephone interview last night. He was referring to a recent Washington Post article that suggested communities will not be able to opt-out of the immigration enforcement initiative, as the county board had been led to believe.

“Once we have that clarification, and we better understand what else we need to be asking, we’re going to go from there,” Tejada said.

The board’s effort to opt-out of Secure Communities received a public endorsement this week when the New York Times ran an editorial calling on the Obama administration to accomodate the request. San Francisco, Santa Clara, Ca. and the District have also expressed interest in opting out of the program.

“Washington needs to find a way to allow cities like San Francisco and Washington to enforce the law without turning into a branch of ICE,” the Times said.

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Feds Slap Down Arlington’s Immigration Resolution

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s effort to withdraw from the federal Secure Communities immigration enforcement program has hit a big snag. Turns out withdrawing is harder than the county board originally thought.

The program checks the immigration status of individuals arrested by local police agencies by using fingerprints submitted to the FBI. If an offender is a known illegal immigrant, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks the local agency to hold the prisoner until immigration officers can take appropriate action.

The Washington Post reports that since local police need to check prisoners’ wanted status via the FBI database, withholding fingerprints from the Feds is not feasible.

“It is most frustrating,” said county board member Walter Tejada, upon learning of the revelation from a Washington Post reporter. Tejada, who championed the resolution that instructed the county manager to take steps to withdraw from Secure Communities, said lawyers and officials spent the summer researching how to opt out of the program.

BREAKING NEWS — County Board Votes to Withdraw from Immigration Enforcement Program

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County board voted Tuesday afternoon to become the first community in Virginia — and one of the only communities in the country — to withdraw from the federal Secure Communities immigration enforcement program.

Following an impassioned presentation by board member Walter Tejada, and without further discussion, the board voted 5-0 to direct County Manager Michael Brown to formally notify Virginia State Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of Arlington’s intention to withdraw from the program, which Virginia implemented statewide earlier this year.

“This is something that was imposed on Arlington County and other jurisdictions,” Tejada said. “They didn’t ask our opinion, there was no public process.”

“Arlington county remains firmly committed to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties for all people,” Tejada added, saying actions by the state government have created “an anti-immigrant sentiment, regretfully.”

“We’ve had a pattern of measures that seek to score cheap political points on the backs of working immigrants,” he said.

Tejada said Arlington County law enforcement would maintain its current policy of only reporting undocumented immigrants directly to federal authorities in the event of serious crimes. He argued that the Secure Communities program is actually a hinderance to police.

“There are concerns among Arlington County law enforcement and our residents that the Secure Communities initiative will create divisions in our community, and promote a cultural fear and distrust of law enforcement that threatens communities and makes communities less safe,” Tejada said, reading from the text of the resolution.

The resolution also calls on the U.S. Congress to “enact meaningful and comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants.

A crowd that included at least a dozen immigration rights advocates rose to their feet and cheered after the vote. Many hugged and some whistled and threw their hands in the air.

In a joint statement following the vote, Arlington Sheriff Beth Arthur and Police Chief Douglas Scott said that the resolution will not change the way their respective departments enforce the law.

“Our goal remains unchanged – we are here to keep this community safe,” the statement reads. “And to do so, we must rely on strong partnerships and relationships with everyone in our community. We want to make sure that all people – regardless of their country of origin – continue to report crimes and do not fear interacting with Arlington County law enforcement.”

Update at 10:25 p.m. — The county has posted a text of the resolution here.

Arlington Represented at the Capital Bikeshare Launch

By ARLnow.com

This morning, DC and Arlington leaders held a big ol’ press corral down at Navy Yard to mark the launch of the Capital Bikeshare system. The event featured balloons, bright red Bikeshare bikes lined up in neat rows like soldiers in a North Korean military parade, and a soon-to-be ex-mayor trying to avoid his post-election Dukakis moment.

Along the Arlington folks on hand were County Board Chairman Jay Fisette, Crystal City BID president Angela Fox and board member Walter Tejada.

Bloggers at Greater Greater Washington and TheWashCycle are predicting big things for Capital Bikeshare, which is putting 1,100 bikes in rental stations across the District, Crystal City and Pentagon City. TBD, meanwhile, is taking a wait-and-see approach, while pronouncing that the lead-up to the Bikeshare launch has consisted of “lots and lots of hype.”

Tejada: No Reason For “Disgruntled Persons” to Change County

By ARLnow.com

County board member Walter Tejada says Arlington is doing just fine under its current form of government, thank you very much.

Tejada was a guest on Friday’s Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi on WAMU radio. Asked about the change-of-government petition circulating around the county, Tejada had this to say:

I think it’s important to understand where Arlington is today. We have the lowest unemployment in the region … we have the lowest crime index since 1960 … and our schools are rated in the top 1% in the nation. We have to take a hard look at where we are today. Should we change an entire county government only because there are a few disgruntled persons?

The “disgruntled persons” Tejada is referring to are Arlington’s public safety unions, along with their Republican and Green Party partners, who are collectively sponsoring the petition drive.

Tejada said that he was recently approached by a signature collector who tried to sell him on a claim that all current Arlington County board members live in North Arlington. The only problem, as Tejada points out in the video below, is that board member Chris Zimmerman lives in South Arlington.

Wife of Ag Secretary to Tour Library Garden

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington Central Library in Ballston has a thriving new organic vegetable garden that’s providing food to people in need via the Arlington Food Assistance Center. And now, the project’s early success has attracted the attention of community gardening advocate Christie Vilsack, wife of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Vilsack will tour the garden tomorrow morning with county board member Walter Tejada and library director Diane Kresh. During the tour of the garden’s crops, volunteers from the USDA Research Service will release spotted pink lady beetles into the garden to help control pests.

The tour will take place from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Afterward, Mrs. Vilsack and Mr. Tejada will visit a children’s storytime in the library.