Latinos Unite Across Classes Against Curbs on Immigration – Prince William County, Virginia

“José Marinay wears tailored suits, plays racquetball twice a week and displays photos of family-owned racehorses in his Annandale office. For years, the Colombian-born businessman thought he had little in common with the area’s illegal immigrants, often villagers from Mexico and Central America who sleep 10 to a house and push lawn mowers or scrub pots for a living.

But the battle in Prince William County, where a measure to curb illegal immigration has thrown the Latino community into turmoil, changed his mind.

“This situation has brought together people who never would have sat in one room before,” said Marinay, 50, who owns a real estate settlement company that has offices across Northern Virginia and a mainly Latino clientele. Since the measure was passed in July, he said, business has fallen 80 percent at his Manassas office, and he will probably close it. He also said a sense of growing hostility toward Latino immigrants has affected him”

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