…. KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: A new threat from the powerful pro-illegal-alien lobby tonight. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union are threatening Prince William County, Virginia, with a lawsuit.

Now, the threat follows the county’s decision to pass a series of ordinances aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

As Bill Tucker reports, it’s a familiar pattern. A local community takes action to cope with problems caused by illegal immigration, and, from the outside, a well-financed pro-illegal-alien group steps in.

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BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The county of Prince William in Virginia simply wants to deny certain social services to illegal aliens in their community.

In passing local ordinances aimed at doing that, the county has invited protests and legal threats from both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

FOSTER MAEL, SENIOR ATTORNEY, PUERTO RICAN LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND: We think that the County should be on notice that what they are doing will have serious legal consequences for the County so they can’t say, oh, we’re surprised. Because, yes, we do think it violates federal law. And so we think they should be aware of that before they make the final decisions as to how they’re going to proceed here.

TUCKER: What the board did was vote to require that a person’s legal status be verified before being granted certain public services. They acted after a report in January found that the County is spending at least $3 million in services to illegal aliens.

COREY STEWART, BOARD CHAIRMAN, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA: We’ve had a lot of problems with illegal immigration in the County. The population of illegal immigrants in the County we estimate to be about 40,000 people. We have overcrowding of homes, overcrowding of schools and a rising gang problem, especially MS-13.

TUCKER: The involvement of PRLDF and the ACLU is not surprising. They’ve acted to prevent several local communities from enacting similar ordinances, mostly notably Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Their involvement is usually seen as legally and financially intimidating.

KRIS KOBACH, IMMIGRATION REFORM LAW INSTITUTE: The normal tactic of PRLDF and the ACLU is to threaten — and with the threat comes of threat of financial penalty, because it costs a lot of money to defense in these lawsuits.

TUCKER: So the County, in this case Prince William, is left with a choice — spend millions on social services or spend the money on lawyers defending its ordinances.

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TUCKER: The persistent involvement by the Puerto Rican Defense & Education Fund on behalf of illegal aliens is somewhat ironic. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States and therefore not a target of the local ordinances like those in Prince Williams. Interesting, the County already is a participant in the 287G program, which allows police there to identify illegal aliens in their jails.

And, Kitty, there are no threatened lawsuits over that program.

PILGRIM: Well, you talk about legal and financial intimidation of the local communities.

Has there ever been a legal challenge to 287G, these police powers?

TUCKER: No. And, interestingly, that’s a program that is getting more and more popular at the local level and it has never been successfully sued and the program is becoming more popular in communities around the country.

PILGRIM: Interesting stuff. Thanks very much.

TUCKER: Well, House Republicans last night succeeded in passing a motion that would tighten housing regulations for illegal aliens. GOP lawmakers added the motion to a Democratic public housing bill. And this motion would require people applying for public housing assistance to prove that they are in this country legally.

Immigration reform and the war in Iraq are part of the reasons Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign seems on the verge of collapse. Now, the senator today admitted he made some mistakes with his campaign and that his support of the Senate’s immigration bill had a negative effect.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, I think the fact that my position on immigration was obviously not helpful with the Republican base.

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