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Tonight's immigration debate: Police training
Village officials to seek federal funding for specialized training of officers

BY LARISSA CHINWAH
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Carpentersville trustees tonight will again address immigration and the federal government, making it three months in a row an immigration-related topic will make the village board agenda.

This time, they may seek federal funding for specialized training of some police officers.

But the timing and purpose of the proposed resolution has some village officials scratching their heads.

At a November village board meeting, trustees sent a resolution demanding the president and federal government enact immigration law enforcement and reform.

Now, the village is asking the federal government to foot the bill for Section 287 (g) training, which it already provides.

"This resolution is basically meaningless because the federal government already funds it," village President Bill Sarto said. "We have not applied to be admitted into the system. It is kind of like putting the cart before the horse."

Still, Sarto said he would support the resolution.

"It doesn't hurt to let them know that we want funding," Sarto said.

Although the resolution is immigration-related, it is not linked to the ordinance that would crack down on illegal immigrants, said Trustee Judy Sigwalt, a co-sponsor of the crackdown ordinance, now in limbo.

Sigwalt said the idea of the resolution seeking funding for training is "to keep the federal government on its toes."

"If nothing else, this lets the federal government know that we're not backing off on anything that pertains to helping communities deal with illegal immigration," Sigwalt said. "We cannot become complacent now and become silent."

But Trustee Jim Frost said sending another resolution to Washington could do more harm than good.

"It seems to me that trying to tell the federal government what to do is not in the best interest of anybody," Frost said. "We do not want to pester people in Washington with sending another letter."

The voluntary Section 287 (g) program was created in 1996 as an amendment to the Immigration and Naturalization Act. The program enables local communities and states to contract with the federal government to enforce immigration laws, said Michael Gilhooly, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.

Gilhooly said Immigration and Customs Enforcement trains eligible officers for more than five weeks and designs a program that authorizes local law enforcement officers to identify, process and detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.

While more than 30 agencies across the country are involved in training, Gilhooly said no communities in Illinois are actively participating in the program.

Carpentersville Police Chief David Neumann said he is researching the requirements for joining the program.

"We already work with ICE already, with roundups and such," said Neumann, who said his requests for information were not yet fulfilled. "We have had more than 40 over the year. The 287 (g) training will enhance what we already have; it will strengthen the relationship with ICE."