Carpentersville: Immigration debate delays business
Immigration debate delays C'ville business
August 9, 2007
By Ben Lefebvre STAFF WRITER
CARPENTERSVILLE -- Trustees voted to cut this week's village board meeting short rather than talk about the controversial anti-illegal alien ordinance proposal.
After residents voiced their opinions Tuesday night on whether the village should penalize landlords and businesses harboring illegal immigrants and impound vehicles from motorists driving without licenses or insurance, Village President Bill Sarto tried to bring the proposed Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Ordinance up for discussion.
Sarto has been one of the most vocal critics of the proposed ordinance, which critics say could result in racial profiling against the town's Latino population.
Sarto's attempts midway through the agenda to debate the proposal were stopped when Trustee Judith Sigwalt motioned to end the meeting. Trustees Keith Hinz, Paul Humpfer, Ed Ritter joined her in voting for adjournment. Trustee Kay Teeter abstained.
Humpfer and Sigwalt first introduced the proposal last year, but the board tabled discussion on it in October pending a court decision on a similar measure passed in Hazleton, Pa. A federal judge deemed Hazleton's ordinance unconstitutional last month, but the Hazleton mayor vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It's one fiasco in this town after another," said Sarto, who voted against adjournment along with Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski. "It's senseless to allow this public dialogue on immigration during the meeting's public comment session and then be reluctant to discuss it in a open meeting with other board members. They ran on this as the centerpiece of their campaign but are now ignoring it. It's sucking all the air out of the room."
Waiting for final decision
Sigwalt said the board has indicated that it won't discuss the proposal until a final court decision is made in the Hazleton case.
"The reason for ending (the meeting) early is that I and other board members are sick and tired of Bill and his lectures," Sigwalt said after the meeting. "The man can't just take no for an answer. We basically told him to leave (the proposal) as is until the Supreme Court makes its decision. He's gotta learn that this is the board's direction."
Among the 10 items slated to be discussed after the immigration ordinance and now left in limbo were an approval for a study on whether creating a tax increment financing district along the village's Illinois 25 corridor would help the economy here, an application for a grant for fire and emergency response and discussion on Sigwalt's own proposal on vehicle impounding.
Village Manager Craig Anderson said a special board meeting likely would be held Aug. 14 to address the unfinished business.
About 400 people attended the meeting, with half having to stand outside village hall to listen to loud speakers broadcasting the proceedings. Although Sigwalt and Humpfer have said their proposals are not racist, several Latinos in the crowd said they were legal residents and felt targeted by the village's hard-line stance on immigration and assimilation.
"They make you feel guilty for no reason," said one man who declined to give his name. "They just do whatever they want to do."
"Everything that's going on here, we're sick of it," said Arianna Realzola, a member of the Community Coalition Alliance who was standing outside village hall. "People here are either planning on moving or thinking about it."
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