Virginia Rising

By Trevor Baratko, Brian Rossell doesn’t have to leave. Brian Rossell can stay. For now. Rossell’s world was set for a dramatic shift July 31. That’s the deadline U.S. immigration officials set for the Sterling resident to be deported. They told Rossell to find the money for a plane ticket home and pack his bags. They told him to get …

By Rachel Hatzipanagos and Sherell Williams, As the House of Representatives prepares to review a bill that could enact tighter border security and provide immigrants a better path to citizenship, advocates gathered Wednesday night outside Congressman Frank Wolf’s offices in an interfaith rally to call for change. Read more here.

El miércoles en Virginia se llevó a cabo una vigilia organizada por diversos grupos pro reforma y religiosos para apoyar a Brian Rossell un inmigrante indocumentado que será deportado junto a su hija Kelly de diez años de edad en menos de dos semanas. Las más de 200 personas caminaron luego a las oficinas del congresista Fran Wolff para pedirle …

By Jennifer van der Kleut, More than 200 faith leaders and immigration supporters are expected to gather Wednesday night at the Hilton Washington-Dulles Airport hotel in Herndon to say a prayer, and then march to the offices of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) Read more here.

By Brentin Mock, In May, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced a historic win for voting rights: the automatic restoration of those rights for former nonviolent felony offenders on an individualized basis. It was a few steps short of what voting rights advocates have been calling for, which is full automatic rights restoration for all former felons, but they acknowledged it …

By Meghan Lopez, Brian Rossell and his daughter Kelly have been living illegally in the U.S. for almost ten years. They are just two of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in this country. Brian crossed into the U.S. by sneaking over the Mexican border in order to escape gang violence in his home, El Salvador. He is now …

By Julian Walker, If all goes according to plan, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration projects that over six months, it can restore voting rights to one in 10 eligible people who lost them to nonviolent felony convictions. Read more here.

The door opened Monday for tens of thousands of nonviolent felons in Virginia to regain the right to vote, with state officials outlining steps each will have to take to recapture their basic civil rights. Read more here.

Some of the advocates who cheered Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcement in May that he would automatically restore the voting rights of nonviolent felons are now concerned that the initiative might not have as big an impact as they thought — at least not right away. Others say they’re just happy that progress is being made. Read more here.

By Arturo Garcia, While Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) touted his plan to restore voting rights to the state’s nonviolent felons, advocacy groups were monitoring how much impact it could have. Read more here.