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Herndon officials turned over 13 inmates to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the two months since the town began the federal partnership in June, police said Friday. Town police processed the inmates under the controversial 287(g) program, offered through ICE to allow local police to initiate the first stages of deportation proceedings for illegal aliens arrested on other charges. "Based on these initial results, the program is doing exactly what it is designed to do -- giving our officers another tool in their efforts to remove criminal illegal aliens from our community," Herndon police chief Toussaint E. Summers Jr. said...

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today issued the following statement on Volkswagen’s presence in Michigan: “We are grateful that so many Volkswagen jobs are staying in Michigan. By choosing to continue their automotive and technology related functions here they will be retaining 600 of their employees in Michigan. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Volkswagen in the years to come.” Granholm met with Stefan Jacoby, incoming President and CEO of Volkswagen of America last evening. In conversations and a formal letter to the Governor, Jacoby said Michigan is and will remain an important global center for...

Volkswagen Moving to Herndon U.S. Unit to Bring 400 Jobs From Michigan By Zachary A. GoldfarbWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 6, 2007; Page D01 Volkswagen of America plans to announce today that it will move its headquarters to Herndon, as part of a new corporate strategy to for revamping its sagging auto business. The company said it would bring 400 jobs to the region and invest more than $100 million to set up operations in a new office building in Woodland Park near Washington Dulles International Airport.The move is part of a corporate restructuring that would eliminate 400 positions,...

Volkswagen of America announced at a press conference today that, indeed, it is moving its corporate headquarters from the Detroit suburbs to Herndon, Va. At this morning’s press conference, VWoA’s new president and CEO, Stefan Jacoby, in that post only since Sept. 1, cited a host of reasons why the company is moving from Detroit to Virginia: closeness to customers; support of the state and business community; and a fresh start for VWoA, which is embarking on a new strategic direction after sales of its once-popular Volkswagen brand models have tanked while U.S. financial losses mount. Jacoby said VWoA is...

The Town of Herndon announced yesterday that it would close its 21-month-old day-laborer center next week instead of complying with a judge's ruling that the site must be open to all residents, including those who might be illegal immigrants. The decision to close the site, which became a flash point in the national debate over immigration, was reached late Tuesday by Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis and the six-member Town Council after a 2 1/2 -hour closed-door session. It brings the western Fairfax community virtually full circle in its attempts to regulate -- critics say drive out -- its large population...

The Town of Herndon announced yesterday that it would close its 21-month-old day-laborer center next week instead of complying with a judge's ruling that the site must be open to all residents, including those who might be illegal immigrants. The decision to close the site, which became a flash point in the national debate over immigration, was reached late Tuesday by Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis and the six-member Town Council after a 2 1/2 -hour closed-door session. It brings the western Fairfax community virtually full circle in its attempts to regulate -- critics say drive out -- its large population...

The Herndon Town Council and town attorney met in closed session last night to discuss legal options after a Fairfax County Circuit Court decision last week declaring the town's anti-solicitation ordinance unconstitutional. The council also was scheduled to discuss a resolution authorizing the town to temporarily operate a day-laborer site at an estimated cost of $11,000 per month after the contract of the center's current operator, Reston Interfaith, expires Sept. 14. It was not clear whether last week's ruling would alter the town's plans to temporarily run the Herndon Official Workers Center while town officials seek a new operator that...

A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge has struck down a Herndon law forbidding employers to solicit day laborers anywhere but at a single center, a new turn in an already complex tangle of immigration, labor and law in the small Virginia town. Judge Leslie M. Alden overturned a district court ruling and declared the ordinance unconstitutional, the town announced Wednesday evening.

"The town of Herndon, (Virginia) plans to take over operating its day-laborer center because city officials cannot find a qualified group to manage the facility in accordance with newly passed restrictions, according to the Washington Post.....Reston Interfaith and its affiliate Project Hope & Harmony, the current operator of the center, provided job training and English lessons to laborers, but refused to check workers' legal status. Reston Interfaith runs the center on a grant provided by Fairfax County. The grant runs out September 14....The Herndon Town Council recently required whatever group manages the site to check workers' legal status...." http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0807/451380.html...

PROJECT: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE SUBJECT: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION / RESPONSE ON THE U.S. LOCAL LEVELFILE: OPPOSITION RESEARCH TRANSLATION: SPANISH to ENGLISH (w/BABELFISH) Original Spanish Title: ("Ante Nuevas Regulaciones Federales y Locales Empresarios se Unen Para Ayudar a Los Inmigrantes") Translated Text: ”By Mitzi Macias WASHINGTON HISPANICIn order to respond to the new anti-immigrant (sic: "anti- illegal alien") regulations on the local level in Virginia and federal level, a group of businessmen met to form a coalition through which he will plead for the rights and the contributions of the immigrants (sic: "illegal aliens"). Taking the first step, the coalition is an integration...

Town votes day laborer center must check paperworkAssociated Press - August 15, 2007 10:35 PM ET HERNDON, Va. (AP) - The town of Herndon's day laborer center now must check the paperwork of workers who congregate there.After two days of hearing debate, the town council voted tonight that a new group must run the center. The current operator -- a nonprofit called Project Hope and Harmony -- says it's not their job to enforce immigration law.Herndon's day laborer center was 1 of the region's first. It has sparked debate over illegal immigration and how to deal with workers who used...

A Herndon Town Council public hearing on the future of a taxpayer-funded day-laborer center moved toward midnight last night, as dozens of speakers signed up to discuss several proposals including a provision to require the center's new operator to verify workers' legal status. The council has applied for a temporary permit extension for the site's operator, Project Hope and Harmony, which does not verify employment eligibility, while the town procures a new operator for the Herndon Official Workers Center that would be required to check legal status. "We're happy that the Town Council is taking a step closer to bringing...

Fairfax County has terminated its financial contract with Reston Interfaith, managers of the Herndon Official Workers Center, according to county officials. The contract currently provides $175,000 in annual funding for the controversial day labor center's operation.

Herndon officials are considering proposals that would bar Illegal aliens from using the town"s day-laborer center. The town has received two proposals for a new day-laborer site that would check workers" immigration status, Herndon spokeswoman Anne Curtis said. The new site would replace the Herndon Official Workers Center, which is run by the Project Hope & Harmony group and does not mandate legal status. An internal staff committee led by the town manager must evaluate the proposals and determine whether to bring one before the full Town Council, Ms. Curtis said. Town officials in January issued an official request for...

WASHINGTON - Since making national news last year for the controversy surrounding its taxpayer-subsidized day laborer center, the tiny town of Herndon has done an abrupt about-face. In May, angry voters ousted Mayor Michael O’Reilly, who supported the center, an elected Steve DeBenedittis, who did not. Only two incumbents on the Herndon Town Council survived their wrath; five candidates publicly committed to reversing the town’s illegal immigrant policy were swept in with DeBenedittis. The day labor center was founded by Muslim activist Mukit Hossain, whose office is located right next door to the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a think...

Kingdom of the Illegals By Paul Sperry FrontPageMagazine.com | May 17, 2006 This month's defeat of local politicians who built the equivalent of a day-care center for illegal Hispanic immigrants in a leafy Washington, D.C., suburb was a victory not just for immigration reformers but also anti-terror watchdogs. Angry voters in Herndon, Va., swept out their bleeding-heart mayor and two of his allies on the town council and replaced them with candidates who are not expected to renew the lease of a controversial hiring site set up to help illegal aliens find work. Lost in all the controvery, however, is...

Herndon (Virginia)'s decision Tuesday night to seek federal training for some of its police officers so they can enforce federal immigration law is part of a long-term effort by a new mayor and Town Council to aggressively curb the presence of residents who are in the country illegally....

States, Counties Begin to Enforce Immigration Law By Peter Whoriskey Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 27, 2006; 6:50 AM CHARLOTTE -- Police here operated for years under what amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward illegal immigrants. As elsewhere in the United States, law enforcement officers did not check the immigration status of people they came into contact with, and in the vast majority of cases, a run-in with the law carried little threat of deportation. But....

"Herndon (Virginia) officials are considering applying for a federal program that would train some of the town's police officers to enforce U.S. immigration law, including the initiation of deportation proceedings."

The attacks on US targets culminating in the September 11 suicide hijackings were only a fraction of the onslaught planned by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, it emerged yesterday. Over the past three years, US intelligence detected plots against US embassies in 14 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, and there were over 600 more "credible threats" of attacks. Some were thwarted by arrests or stepped up security. Others appear to have been suspended or may still be pending. The global extent of al-Qaida's terrorist ambitions is revealed in a new book by Peter Bergen, CNN's terrorism analyst, who interviewed ...