ANTI-IMMIGRATION ADS ATTACKED AS FALSE AND MISLEADING A new series of television and print advertisements in northern Virginia sponsored by the Coalition for the Future of the American Worker, an anti-immigration group whose most well known member is the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is trying to blame increasing urban and suburban sprawl on “runaway population growth” caused by immigration. Similar ads that have run in other parts of the country have been condemned as racist, but these ads are also being attacked on grounds of factual inaccuracy.
Many in Loudoun County, one of the areas most heavily targeted in the ads, people who do oppose the rapid growth the county has recently experienced, have condemned the ads as “offensive” and have accused the group that is sponsoring them of jumping on a local issue that has nothing to do with immigration. According to one local anti-sprawl activist, “sprawl is not a function of immigration,” but occurs because “the government allows too many houses in the wrong places,” regardless of who occupies the housing.
Where proponents of restricted immigration blame immigrants in Washington, D.C. for driving residents to the suburbs in northern Virginia, demographers say statistics show that movements of people already living in the US cause growth of the suburbs. During the year from March 1998 to March 1999, 2.6 million US residents moved to the suburbs, whereas just over 650,000 immigrants did, according to the Population Reference Bureau.
Along with complaints that the ads are racist and inaccurate, other groups think they are simply foolish. Northern Virginia is a rapidly growing high-tech area, and proponents of this growth think it is unwise to discourage computer professionals, from whatever country, from settling in the area. < Back | Next > Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. | 
