Immigration ordinance proves divisive

October 4, 2006
By GLORIA CARR STAFF WRITER
CARPENTERSVILLE -- A voice over the bullhorn led chants in Spanish, yelling "aqui estamos y no nos vamos" -- "we are here and we are not leaving" -- as hundreds gathered to protest an ordinance targeting illegal immigrants.
Nearby, a group of six men stood watching.

"Speak English! We can't understand you. What? What?" one man sarcastically yelled back at the crowd.

Carpentersville residents, immigration activists, Illinois Minuteman members and gawkers stood next to each other on the front lawn of village hall Tuesday night as a national debate on illegal immigration played out locally. The crowd, estimated at 1,500, gathered as Carpentersville officials began discussing the Illegal Alien Immigration Relief ordinance.


» Click to enlarge image

A man holds a sign while people gather to express their views on a proposed anti-illegal immigrant ordinance outside the front doors of Carpentersville Village Hall on Tuesday night.


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A majority of the crowd rallied against the law, holding signs that read "Stop the Racism" and "We pay our taxes. We help this town."
The crowd included Adriana Perez, an American citizen and longtime Carpentersville resident.

Her husband is an illegal immigrant. He was working Tuesday night, so she came out to represent him, said Perez, who pushed her 1-year-old son Gabriel in a stroller. Five-year-old daughter, Emma, stood nearby. The law, if passed, includes provisions to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants.

"We are renting," Perez said. "Where am I supposed to go? I live here."

Efrain Cabral, also of Carpentersville, was among the first to arrive. He stood in a field across village hall, watching as television cameras arrived to set up about two hours before the meeting. He arrived here illegally as a 14-year-old, becoming a legal resident as an adult. Cabral now is married and expecting his first child. His wife, however, is illegal. He said he owns his own home and works hard.

He feels the law targets Hispanics.

"They (officials) want to create a new society, a white one, not a Mexican one," said Cabral, before heading toward village hall.

Fourteen-year-old David Rivera and his friend Adan Angeles arrived with Angeles' family, including his sister Liliana, to protest.

"Why do they say it's a free country when it's not?" Rivera said.

Outside village hall, people began lining up to be first into the board room. Frank Stoneham, a resident who asked the village board take a local approach to illegal immigration, yelled "You guys want amnesty, you guys want citizenship, speak English."

"What did your great-grandmother speak? It wasn't English," Linda Guiterrez yelled back.

Juan Silva, of La Organization Civil Cultural Mexicana de Elgin, asked the crowd not to respond to comments by Stoneham and others.

Everyone came to protest, not fight or argue, Silva said.

A few arguments erupted over the Mexican flag and speaking English vs. Spanish, but no major incidents were reported.

Frank Jolliff watched the crowds but disagreed with the signs alleging racism.

"Racism is putting one race above anything else," he said. The law is about status, not race, he said. "It's not just about Latins. It's about anyone coming here illegally."

Another man, who refused to identify himself other than as "Hoover," said, "The main point is we are tired of paying for illegal immigration in our community."

Immigration activists began an impromptu voter registration, and the Illinois Minuteman group passed out sign-up forms for new members. A man even sold copies of The Militant, described as "a socialist newsweekly published in the interests of working people."


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