Thread: Carpentersville Calls for Crackdown

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Immigration debate sought
Group calls for discussion of proposed Carpentersville crackdown
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By George Houde and Tim Kane
Special to the Tribune

November 16, 2006

A group born of a controversial anti-illegal-immigration ordinance proposed in Carpentersville vows to keep the issue on the front burner despite what it says are opponents' efforts to duck the debate.

"We're not here for just cutting ribbons and kissing babies," said Village Trustee Judy Sigwalt, a co-sponsor of the ordinance and co-founder of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration. At a news conference Wednesday in the VFW Hall in West Dundee, she called on Carpentersville Mayor Bill Sarto and Trustee Linda Ramirez Sliwinski to discuss the immigration issue.

Sarto said he found the challenge "humorous" and didn't rule out making an appearance at a town hall meeting tentatively scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 28 in Carpentersville's Lakewood School auditorium.

"I'm not an expert, nor are they," Sarto said. "So I don't know what would come out of the debate. I would suggest that they invite House Speaker [Dennis] Hastert or some top-ranking federal law-enforcement official to get credible information.

"I'm against illegal immigration. There's no point hashing back and forth what could be a moot subject."

Sarto said the village attorney advised the board that it should see what happens in legal challenges to similar legislation in other U.S. communities before voting on the proposal that advocates stiff fines for businesses that employ and landlords who rent to illegal immigrants.

But some trustees expect the ordinance to be back on the agenda by the end of this month.

"I don't think it's going to stay tabled very long," said Trustee Kay Teeter, who supports the proposal. "I've listened to the voices of our residents, and I'm disappointed that Sarto tried to take away the opportunity for others to hear those voices."

Teeter referred to Sarto applying pressure to the League of Women Voters and Dundee Township Park District that resulted in the recent cancellation of a forum on the ordinance and illegal immigration. Park District officials said they had security concerns.

Sarto questioned how security for a debate would work and questioned the group's plan of charging a "voluntary" $5 ticket fee to pay for security.

The citizens group began meeting in October, after a contentious Carpentersville Village Board meeting in which action on the ordinance was tabled. An Oct. 3 meeting, which included the ordinance as a discussion topic, attracted 3,000 protesters, almost all Hispanic.

Trustee Paul Humpfer co-wrote the ordinance and helped organized the group. "It's the residents [of Carpentersville] who have been pushing me to do this," he said.

Jay Radke said he joined the group when he got wind of it.

"For some time I've been upset that we have so many illegals in the country," said Radke, who lives in the Carpentersville area. "I joined to see if I could help get rid of the alien invasion."

Radke's enlistment underscores what organizers say is a growing movement to support a law aimed at stemming the wave of undocumented immigrants into the village. The proposal has created unusual and sometimes awkward relationships in a community in which an estimated 40 percent of the population is Hispanic.

The group's mission is to "preserve and promote legal immigration, defuse racial tension and misunderstanding, clarify proposed ordinances, support the efforts of courageous local leaders and encourage the assimilation of legal residents."

"If we pass an ordinance here and make it stick, that will start a movement in the country and change things," said Radke, who noted that his father came from Germany legally.

The group says it has 114 members, most of them Carpentersville residents, said Bob Sperlazzo, group chairman.

"This is not about race; it's about what's legal," he said. "It's about doing what is right for Carpentersville to make it a safer and better community.

"We haven't had to do much. People were already fired up when I stepped in."

Betty Muir, 76, a widow who works full time, said she joined because she is bothered by illegal immigrants who take advantage of government services, including education and ambulance services.

She said village residents used to get free ambulance service but now are charged $350 a trip for basic emergency transport.

"Why should I have to pay for ambulance service and they don't have to?" she said.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Glad they aren't letting it rest. Wonder how many bus loads they'll drag in from out of town to ruin these future meetings?

Your right Crazybird. They'll bus them in. Too bad we can't bus them all right out of the country right now!