Thread: Chicago: Suburb aims to ease Latino fears

Suburb aims to ease Latino fears
Hispanics oppose push to give cops deportation powers

By Ralph Zahorik and Andrew L. Wang, Chicago Tribune. Ralph Zahorik is a freelance reporter. Andrew L. Wang is a Tribune staff reporter

June 29, 2007

When Waukegan's City Council voted last week to pursue power for city police to enforce federal immigration law, nary a peep of opposition came from the few people at the meeting.

But in the ensuing days, a groundswell of animosity toward the measure has built in the north suburban city, where nearly 2,000 people, many of them Hispanic, attended a meeting Wednesday at which Mayor Richard Hyde heard residents' concerns.

Those against the initiative were heartened Thursday by Hyde's assurances that, if given the authority, police would target enforcement of immigration law against convicted felons. But the opponents said they still would push for the City Council to reverse course.

"We continue to believe that [these] powers are unnecessary and divisive," Rev. Gary Graf said in a statement Thursday. "There are already ways to deport undocumented felons without this. ... We still hope the City Council will withdraw the application."

Graf organized the meeting at Holy Family Catholic Church, where he is pastor. The crowd filled the church's sanctuary and spilled into the parking lot.

The City Council voted 7-2 June 18 to authorize Police Chief Bill Biang to apply to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's training program that would allow local law enforcement agencies to start deportation proceedings for legal or illegal immigrants convicted of felonies.

Twenty-one law-enforcement agencies in 11 states have agreements with the immigration agency, and 375 local officers across the country have completed training, most of them in the last two years.

Carpentersville and one other town in Illinois have applications pending with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the program. Homeland Security officials would not identify the other Illinois town.

A predominantly white, working-class city for decades, Waukegan has seen an influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central America in recent years. According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, 38,000 to 50,000 of the city's 91,000 residents are Hispanic or Latino. Authorities said they don't have a good estimate on how many undocumented immigrants live in Waukegan.

Details of Waukegan's plan have yet to be unveiled and the city has not applied for the program.

"Let me tell you what we're not going to do," said Hyde, whose remarks at Wednesday's meeting were translated into Spanish. "We're not going to go into your homes to look for anybody.

"We're not going to set up roadblocks to find out whether a person is legal or undocumented. ... If you haven't committed a felony you don't have to worry."

The mayor said the city "wants to be rid of all serious criminals who have tremendously violated your rights and mine. ... We don't want them in the city of Waukegan."

Graf repeatedly asked Hyde if he would withdraw the resolution authorizing Biang to seek the certification for police.

"I, at this time, am not going to ask the City Council to withdraw the resolution because we want to find out exactly what this is," the mayor replied.

The mayor signed an agreement on six other requests sought by Graf, including promises that city police would use the authority only to prosecute major felonies "such as murder, child abuse and rape." Authorities would not use it to "deport unlicensed drivers, immigrants without legal identification or those guilty of minor traffic violations or other minor offenses," according to the agreement.

In addition, the agreement says the city will not participate in immigration raids on employers and will not tolerate police or public servants threatening immigrants with deportation.

Hyde said he has supported measures to allow undocumented immigrants in Illinois to get driver certificates.

Letters supporting Graf's position from Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and from a group of 150 priests, were read at the meeting and greeted with loud cheers and applause.

Outside in the church's parking lot, hundreds held an impromptu demonstration, chanting "People ... united ... will never be defeated," in Spanish and English.

On Thursday, Hyde said he thought the public's interest in the issue was "great," though he said city officials are fighting a lot of misinformation.

"I think someone in [the Latino] community is giving them wrong information, riling them up," Hyde said. "As long as a there are a group of agitators out there, out to make our city look bad, we'll battle them."-------

alwang@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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

Good article. Posted more info then our local paper!! Sounds like the priest was a real bully.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... eo.article

I hope this link/video still works of the church meeting. Scroll to the bottom. It's outrageous. If you would like to send a respectful, supportive email to our Mayor Hyde here it is. He might need it after such an ugly meeting. AND we need him to carry on with the application.

mayor@ ci.waukegan.il.us

And finally here is what someone posted about the outside protesters. I thought he put it well. We had Emma Lozano in town -she's married to Slim Coleman who is giving sanctuary to Elvira in the Chicago storefront church.

Danno
Advanced Member
1008 Posts
Posted - 06/29/2007 : 00:30:01
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This whole 287(g) thing struck the hispanic community like a ton of bricks who were very unaware that such a thing could be done. The news quickly spread that, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the Waukegan Police can act as immigration officers and deport immigration violators.

That idea coupled with the knowledge of how aggressively the Waukegan Police enforced the towing ordinance set a great amount of fear in them.

Which caused certain opportunists, some from outside our community, to take advantage of this fear for their personal gain.

These opportunists who not only exploited this fear but also fed this fear in a vulnerable people, a people that they knew could be controlled and exploited for personal gain, was the ugliest aspect of the whole meeting in my opinion.

Opportunists exploiting the vulnerable under the guise of helping them... and one of them a Catholic priest. How sad and pitiful.

Application for 287(g) has still not been made yet. Which means our input can still be an infuential force with the city council. Please plan on being at the next city council meeting this coming Monday, July 2, at 8pm. If you would like to speak during audience time you will need to put your name and address on the sign-up sheet which they hang on the council chambers door. (Bring a pen or pencil. They don't provide one.) Even if you don't reside in Waukegan but feel stongly about the issue you can still attend and/or speak at the meeting.

It's essential that we let them know the importance of the 287(g) program to our community and that it include DUI and other offenses as well as the more serious felony crimes.

Any church or priest who supports breaking the laws should be sent to jail and be forced to pay taxes from now on. They will shut their mouths if they have to pay taxes. Any church that protects illegals should be forced to reimburse the community for all the illegals in the local area this includes hospital costs, education costs, jail and police costs, legal fees, social benefits, etc. Many churchs are very large and can afford to pay for communities costs.

Originally Posted by Beckyal

Any church or priest who supports breaking the laws should be sent to jail and be forced to pay taxes from now on. They will shut their mouths if they have to pay taxes. Any church that protects illegals should be forced to reimburse the community for all the illegals in the local area this includes hospital costs, education costs, jail and police costs, legal fees, social benefits, etc. Many churchs are very large and can afford to pay for communities costs.

As a Cristian I agree.In no way should the church be involved and if they are helping criminals then they should pay a price for also breaking the law.

Sadly, I believe the only way we will get the attention of the church is to withhold financial support.