Wittman constituents host town hall in his absence to address immigration, federal funding concerns

By Ian Stewart

Roughly 150 people jammed a meeting room at the Twin Hickory Public Library in Henrico County Saturday, demanding U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, oppose sweeping federal spending cuts and immigration measures stemming from President Donald Trump’s administration. The event highlighted the scrutiny Wittman and other Virginia congressional representatives have faced for how they engage with people in their districts.

Wittman, who declined an invitation to the event, was represented by an empty chair at the front of the room. Many who spoke about their concerns addressed their comments to the chair.

Attendee Ericka Kopp pulled out a copy of the Constitution and read parts of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments that addressed her concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration reform policies.

Wittman, who has represented Virginia’s 1st Congressional District since 2007, supported executive orders Trump issued in January cracking down on illegal immigration to the United States and expanding federal agencies’ authority to identify and expel undocumented immigrants from the country. Wittman and other supporters framed the orders as a way to halt drugs and dangerous criminals from entering the country, while detractors said the policies unfairly target immigrants, limit due process and pull families apart.

Kopp said parts of the text do not refer to “citizens of this nation” but instead to “all people” as having a right to a fair trial for crimes, who can’t have their “life, liberty or property” deprived without due process of law. 

“Amendment Six, ‘the accused shall enjoy,’ again, not citizens – all ‘people,’” she said. “So Representative Wittman, I ask that you read the Constitution and apply it accordingly.” 

Vietnam veteran Jim Kutz voiced his concerns about the administration’s recent arrest of a circuit court judge who was accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities. He addressed his question to the entire room.

“What other leader arrested judges?” he asked. “Hitler, Mussolini and other dictators arrested judges. I think we are all very concerned about the rule of law.” In pointed remarks directed at Wittman, Kutz said, “We want you to speak up on the floor and introduce resolutions supporting the rule of law and speak out about the appalling things that are happening in the White House.”

The event, dubbed “Where’s Wittman? A Town Hall In Absentia for Virginia’s First Congressional District,” was put on by Democracy Circle RVA, a group who started meeting after Trump’s second inauguration, said organizer Jenny Pribble. 

“We’re a group of friends and neighbors, a loose-knit organization,” she said. “A lot of us have experience in political organizing, but decided this time we wanted to be engaged very locally with our immediate neighbors. I think what unites us is a real concern about attacks on rule of law, attacks on democratic institutions, and challenges now with due process.”

The group also contrasted the administration’s action with the Fourteenth Amendment,  which identifies American citizens as “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” and declares that states shouldn’t deny “any person” due process of law and “equal protection of the laws.” 

“His job is to represent his constituents, and his constituents are showing up, and they would like him to listen,” said Pribble.

In an email to the Virginia Mercury ahead of Saturday’s town hall, Wittman’s communications director Julianne Heberlein said the congressman wasn’t planning on attending the event because it wasn’t organized by his office and because he was “already committed to several other events in the district that day.” 

Wittman also directly addressed the town hall organizers in the email, defending his record of engaging with constituents and tackling important issues.

“I’ve consistently hosted live telephone town halls, and I’m proud that my most recent one reached approximately 9,000 constituents,” he wrote. “We covered a range of topics — from Social Security and veterans’ issues to the economy — and I always welcome tough questions, even from those who disagree with me.”

On March 26, Wittman held a telephone town hall via Facebook that his office says drew 9000 people. The video on Facebook has since been removed. Callers had to register on Wittman’s website in order to be a part of the conversation. According to Heberlein, Wittman has hosted from three to seven telephone town halls per year since about 2009.

Wittman said the telephone town halls allow him to connect to thousands of residents in the district, which spans from parts of Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield Counties in Central Virginia to the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. There are over 471,000 registered voters in the district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Though he values meeting with people in person, Wittman said, he encourages people to sign up on his website for the next telephone town hall.

Democracy Circle RVA did meet with Wittman on March 14, where they hand delivered an invitation to the town hall signed by 79 people. 

“When we met with Rob Wittman in person, we discussed a range of issues, and on a number of issues he seemed to agree with us,” said Pribble. “But he insisted that he didn’t have a lot of power to change things beyond voting for a budget or voting against a budget. But we know that Article I gives Congress a lot of powers of oversight, of investigation.”

According to VoteSmart, a nonpartisan website compiling information on candidates and elected officials, Wittman’s recent voting record shows he voted in favor of Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill that requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. He has also voted “yea” to several measures designed to enhance security as the country’s southern border. In his March video town hall, Wittman also supported sweeping federal spending cuts. 

“We have $1.7 trillion of a deficit this year, and $36 trillion of debt for the nation,” Wittman said. “That’s on the backs of our children and our children’s children,” the Daily Press reported.

Pribble said the town hall, where state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, was also in attendance, was recorded and will be shared with Wittman’s office.

“He needs to hear from his constituents about how this moment is shaping families’ lives. We have a lot of federal workers in this district. They’ve been hit hard, and I think Wittman needs to show up and hear from us,” said Pribble.

This article first appeared on Virginia Mercury and is republished here with permission. Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence.