Thread: Carpentersville:Law vs. illegal immigrants on C'ville agenda

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Carpentersville, IL Focus Campaign
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Law vs. illegal immigrants on C'ville agenda

October 3, 2006
By GLORIA CARR STAFF WRITER
CARPENTERSVILLE -- The firestorm surrounding immigration will strike village hall tonight, where trustees are expected to discuss whether a local ordinance aimed at illegal immigrants has merit.
No official vote is expected, but trustees may decide whether to direct staff to further explore the proposed Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act ordinance, Village Manager Craig Anderson said.

Carpentersville is the first municipality in Illinois to consider an ordinance that would make English its official language, would prohibit anyone from "aiding and abetting" illegal immigrants, and would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. Trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt are proposing the ordinance.

The ordinance is based on a Hazleton, Pa., law passed last month. That city declared English the official language and, unless "explicitly mandated by the federal government" or the state, all official city business, forms, documents and signage will be in English only, the law states.

Under the law, businesses that employ illegal immigrants will be "denied and barred from approval of a business permit, renewal of a business permit and any city contract or grant."

Additionally, "aids or abets" is defined as hiring illegal immigrants, providing rentals or leasing of real property to illegal immigrants, and providing goods and services to or aiding the establishment or continuation of any day labor center or other entity providing similar services. The ordinance "shall not be construed to prohibit rendering emergency medical care, emergency assistance or legal assistance."

Another section of the law prohibits property owners from leasing to illegal immigrants. Landlords could be fined $1,000 a day if the city learns of the violation.

Hazleton's law is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and is not being enforced pending the outcome of the lawsuit. However, Humpfer feels Carpentersville could benefit from the ordinance. He argues that illegal immigrants have created numerous social problems such as school overcrowding and higher crime rates.

Humpfer said he has received an "overwhelming" amount of support.

"I am getting voice mails, e-mails, phone calls from a lot of residents -- probably more than I've ever received in total from our residents -- and people are overwhelmingly behind us," Humpfer said, adding that neighboring village officials have contacted him as well.

While Humpfer has been receiving more support than he expected, there is dissension on the village board over the issue.

"This is a hot-button issue that a couple of trustees stirred up," Village President Bill Sarto said.

"Frankly, I do not want to be the new racial battleground over the immigration issue," Sarto added. "I think that is exactly the position these two trustees are putting us in."

He called the proposed ordinance a "political stunt," adding Humpfer and Sigwalt are inflaming people who are politically charged over immigration and making those people think the village can do something about the issue.

Sarto's other concerns center on Carpentersville's ability to obtain grants and a good bond rating -- which uses a municipality's economic stability as a factor in determining rates. He said the village already has been informed that its effort to obtain the best health insurance benefit rates for employees may have been compromised because of the controversy.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions here that I don't think people have thought through," Sarto said.

He believes the village should wait to see what happens to court challenges in other communities before discussing the ordinance.

"There is a reason why local government is not jumping into the pool," Sarto said. "They want to know the temperature of the water before they jump in."

Humpfer denied that the ordinance is part of an orchestrated political stunt. He also stated the ordinance does not address people's race but, rather, people's status in this country.

"Residents are asking us to do something about illegal immigration," he said. "It is a shame we don't have more people on the board who think it is an important issue and will listen to the residents."

Sarto said the village board could vote tonight to end the discussion surrounding the ordinance and make it a dead issue. However, if a majority of the board decides to continue discussions, village staff would be asked to do more research on the ordinance. The board also could decide to table the matter and call a special meeting, he said.

Carpentersville officials are expecting a large turnout, with some people traveling from Chicago on buses as well as members of the Illinois Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, and police will be undertaking crowd control, he said.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_276110715.html

Oct 3, 2006 10:04 am US/Central

Carpentersville Officials To Discuss Immigrant Law
Law Would Make English Official Language, Punish Employers Of Illegal Immigrants
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(CBS) CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. Village officials in Carpentersville are expected Tuesday to discuss a proposed ordinance that some claim would drive illegal immigrants out of town.

The "Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act " prohibits conducting business with/or renting to "illegal aliens." Violators face losing their business license and landlords would be fined $1,000. It also makes English the official language of the village.

The ordinance states: "illegal immigration leads to higher crime rates, contributes to overcrowded housing, and failing schools, subjects our village to fiscal hardship….and diminishes our overall quality of life."

The Latino population of Carpentersville has been growing in recent years, and two civil rights groups said the proposed law unfairly targets immigrants.

"This ordinance is based on really caricatured stereotypes of immigrants," Ricardo Meza of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund said last week.

Meza wrote a letter to the village and he plans to pack next week's village meeting with citizens who feel the same way and says three identical ordinances in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have all been challenged in court because he says they are unenforceable.

But Trustee Paul Hupfer who drafted the ordinance says the laws addresses a real problem.

"It is impacting us as a village, not only from a cost perspective, but also from a crime perspective," he said.

He said the village already has been informed that its effort to obtain the best health insurance benefit rates for employees may have been compromised because of the controversy.

Right. Health insurance rates and premiums increase due to illegal immigration because the reimbursements to hospitals for services given illegals do not fully cover the true costs. Someone has to pay, and it those who have health insurance. A story on NPR about a month ago stated that those with health insurance pay an average of $900 per year to help cover the costs of the uninsured.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... &cset=true

THE DEBATE ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Protest planned as crackdown proposal causes stir in suburb
By John Keilman
Tribune staff reporter

October 3, 2006

CARPENTERSVILLE -- If Carpentersville passes an ordinance aimed at driving away illegal immigrants, many Hispanic residents say, the village should be ready to post a "going out of business" sign.

"It's going to be devastating to the economy," said hospital security officer Omar Granados, 40, who was doing his laundry Monday at a strip mall catering to Latino customers.

The Village Board is scheduled to discuss a measure Tuesday that would penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. It also would make English the official language for village documents.

Towns around the country have passed similar measures, but Carpentersville's ordinance appears to be the first of its kind in the Chicago area.

No vote is expected Tuesday, but the introduction of the proposal already has set off a furious reaction. Opponents said they will hold a 6 p.m. protest at Village Hall before the 7:30 p.m. meeting.

"We feel that [immigration] is an issue that involves everybody, and they're targeting the Mexican people," said Juan Silva, president of the Mexican Civic and Cultural Organization of Elgin, which is organizing the demonstration. "We don't want them to even consider [the ordinance]."

Trustee Judy Sigwalt, who is introducing the measure with her colleague Paul Humpfer, said she wouldn't be swayed by the protest. Sigwalt predicted that many supporters of the ordinance would show up too.

"For the U.S. citizen who pays their taxes here, the bottom line is that not everybody pays their fair share of taxes," she said. "When you have four and five families living in a single family dwelling, not everybody is paying property taxes. It is a drain and a strain on our services. The poor senior, the blue-collar worker in this town. ... We have to pick up the slack."

Some Latino residents of the village, which is 40 percent Hispanic, said illegal immigrants bring more to Carpentersville than they take.

Lourdes Mendoza, 52, who said she has been in the village for 17 years, said they take the hardest jobs in construction, factories and restaurants and patronize local businesses and pay rent for local apartments.

"Without Hispanics, Carpentersville would be empty," she said.

Roberto Ruiz-Perez, 32, who said he came to the U.S. from Mexico seven years ago and is now a legal resident, said illegal immigrants have helped the village's economy grow.

"There are a lot of people who don't have documents who work very hard," he said. "This country would be very poor without them."

Such arguments didn't sway Michael Evansen, 51, a retired union carpenter who said he has lived in the village for four years. Illegal immigrants, he said, "aren't complying with our values" by failing to learn English or blend in with mainstream culture.

Most of all, he said, they are breaking the law.

"If they don't belong here, they don't belong here," he said.

Carpentersville officials are bracing for a raucous meeting Tuesday. Village Manager Craig Anderson said calls have poured into his office from around the Chicago area, with many people asking directions to Village Hall.

Sigwalt said that almost every e-mail and phone call she has received supported the ordinance. The messages have come from as far away as New York, she said.

She didn't accept the concerns about economic meltdown posited by the ordinance's opponents.

"If they feel that this whole village would grind to a halt, that would mean that every worker in this town is illegal," she said. "And then I would say we definitely have a problem, and Trustee Humpfer and I are on the way to solving it."

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jkeilman@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

I'll see what happens tonight and then hit my city hard with info. The last article here was interesting -I'm sure some of the emails she was talking about were from this board!

I so very much wish that I could be a fly on the wall and hear this meeting. If such an event/meeting finally happens in my town you can bet I'll be there.

Big week in Illinois!! The Cook County Sanctury issue being voted on tomorrow and this meeting tonight.


I just went and tivo'd all of the local news programs to see what kind of coverage tonight's meeting will have. I'll report later.

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

I'll see what happens tonight and then hit my city hard with info. The last article here was interesting -I'm sure some of the emails she was talking about were from this board!

I so very much wish that I could be a fly on the wall and hear this meeting. If such an event/meeting finally happens in my town you can bet I'll be there.

Big week in Illinois!! The Cook County Sanctury issue being voted on tomorrow and this meeting tonight.

How SWEET IT IS, eh FEDUP?

Love those 'emails'........GO TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
{thumbs up emoticon here}