Thread: Former Trumann resident taking on illegal aliens in Indiana

Thursday, March 26, 2009
By MARK RANDALL, Democrat News Staff


Jerry Sullivan (left) and Bob Schrameyer Executive Director of CILE, Citizens for Immigration Law Enforcement, look over some news paper clipping about illegal immigration.
(Photo courtesy Elkhart Truth)

Jerry Sullivan is not a guy who most businesses want to get a phone call from.
Sullivan is part of a newly-formed group called Citizens For Immigration Law Enforcement (CILE).

The group, which is based out of Elkhart, Ind., is keeping a close eye on businesses which employ or are suspected of employing illegal immigrants.

"Our main purpose is to attempt, not only in Indiana, but across the country, to get illegal aliens out of jobs and get U.S. citizens back to work," Sullivan said in a telephone interview.

Sullivan grew up in Trumann, but moved away his senior year of high school. His mother was Geneva Farmer.

"I come back there a lot for (class) reunions at the Country Club," Sullivan said.

Elkhart, a city of about 52,000 residents which bills itself as the "RV capital of the World," has an unemployment rate hovering near 20 percent -- one of the highest in the nation.

Thousands of residents who once worked in high paying jobs at the area's many RV, boat, van conversion and manufactured housing plants have been thrown out of work as the recession deepens.

President Obama last month used the city as a backdrop to highlight the nation's economic problems while lobbying for his $800 billion stimulus bill in Congress.

Sullivan said many businesses have laid off U.S. citizens but kept workers who were non-citizens who are here in the country illegally.

Elkhart and northern Indiana has seen a large influx of Hispanic immigrants in recent years.

It's estimated that there are about 70,000 to 100,000 illegal immigrants in Indiana, he said.

"It's a big problem," he continued. "Probably about 70 percent of those are north of Kokomo which puts them in our area."

Sullivan said he decided to get involved because he wanted to try to do something to save jobs for U.S. citizens.

"I'd get e-mails and phone calls from people who got laid off from a company and they (would keep) the illegal alien and get rid of the U.S. citizen," Sullivan said. "So a number of us put together this organization."

In the nine months since they formed the group, CILE now boasts a membership of about 250 volunteers.

Their goal is to ensure that Elkhart's manufacturing sector is powered only by U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

Sullivan said they are not anti-immigrant or anti-Hispanic. Their main concern is with undocumented immigrants who are taking jobs away from able-bodied Americans. They are also targeting those who play the system -- sapping health, education and other public services that ought to go to Americans.

Sullivan also said Illegal aliens cost Indiana taxpayers about $389 million a year in medical services alone.

"We're not anti anything," Sullivan said. "People shouldn't be here illegally. There are so many U.S. citizens losing jobs while illegal aliens are keeping theirs all over Indiana. Their kids go to school. They get free lunches. It's quite a problem."

Sullivan spends a lot of time calling companies CILE suspects of hiring illegal aliens. The group also phones in information they gather on employers to a hotline managed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in the hopes it might prompt a raid.

Earlier this year, the president of Janco Composites Inc., a company which manufactures fiberglass tubing in nearby Mishawaka, was charged with knowingly employing illegal workers and fined $210,000.

The plant was raided in March 2007 resulting in the arrest of 36 illegal aliens employed there.

Sullivan said they are already seeing a difference. More and more Elkhart County companies are starting to take notice of the group and taking steps to get rid of undocumented workers.

"I get tip-offs all the time," Sullivan said. "They usually get nervous and their voice quivers. There was one company in town, a metal fabricator that probably employs 250 to 300 people. The guy who runs it is a past acquaintance of mine so I called him up and said 'hey, I had an anonymous phone call that you are employing illegal aliens.' He told me to give him a couple of days to find out and he would call me back.

"He called back a couple of days later and said 'you know what Jerry? You're right. I do and it's not right. I'm going to do something about it.' He put an employment ad in the paper and got rid of the illegal aliens and employed U.S. citizens."

It all starts with the employer because if you take away the paychecks from illegal immigrants, they won't stick around, he said.

CILE also are takes their message to the Chamber of Commerce, mayors and elected local state officials.

"We've just really started this program in the last month, but it's starting to make a difference," Sullivan concluded. "It's picking up steam more and more in Indiana as far as pressure being put on factories to get rid of the illegal alien situation.

"These companies are going public and when that happens it is going to put more pressure on people that are employing illegal aliens. And for only being a month into this I'd say we're accomplishing quite a bit."



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http://www.trumanndemocrat.com/story/1525335.html

I love these patriotic guys already. A new ally in the fight against the invasion...yay