PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Prince William County's board chairman has decided to put off a discussion on proposed changes to make it easier for police officers to check people's immigration status, Julie Carey reported First on 4.

Officers would need only reasonable suspicion to check a person's citizenship under Corey Stewart's proposal. He said the change would result in more checks.

The plan was to be presented to the board on Tuesday, but after many people complained that they were taken by surprise, Stewart decided to put off discussion until the board's June meeting.

Stewart's proposal would be the third version of the policy.

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Under the original crackdown on illegal immigration proposed last summer, officers could check a person's immigration status if there was probable cause to suspect the person detained was in the country illegally.

When police said they would need costly cameras in patrol cars to protect the county from racial profiling lawsuits, the policy was watered down.

Because the county couldn't afford the cameras, the checks could only be done after suspects were arrested.

Stewart said the third version of the policy will strengthen it again.

Opponents called the policy change "flip-flopping" on Tuesday, while supporters said some revision might be helpful.

"The reason that this is so difficult for this resolution to be written properly is because it should never have been written at all," said Nancy Lyall with Mexicans Without Borders. "Immigration is a federal power, and when local jurisdictions interfere, they are overwhelmed by the constitutional questions. How many more corrections are going to have to be made?"

"It think it's very responsible to come back and say, 'We might have gone a little fast. We're going to revisit this to make sure we've done everything right,'" said Greg Letiecq with Help Save Manassas. "We've gathered community input and community review on this, so that when we finally nail this policy down in the general orders, it reflects the will of the Board of Supervisors consistently, that everyone understands exactly what the policy changes mean."

The proposal will not come back before the board until June 3.

Stewart had said Monday he was hoping for an immediate vote. He said he had the seven votes needed to pass the policy.