Common ground at ECC illegal immigration debate


April 30, 2008Recommend

BY STEVEN ROSS JOHNSON Staff Writer
ELGIN -- Representatives on both sides of the illegal immigration issue came to Elgin Community College on Tuesday night to debate how the U.S. should go forth in dealing with the 12 million people estimated to be living in the country illegally.

The debate, held by ECC student group the Organization of Latin American Students, was intended to discuss the hot-button topic by examining such sub-topics as border security and deportation, as well as its economic impact.

Inside, A10
Immigration rallies are slated Thursday in Chicago, across U.S.

Debate participants Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights, and Brian R. Perryman, a former director of the Immigration Naturalization Services of the Chicago District, took turns answering prewritten questions from the roughly 50 people in attendance.

Both men began by agreeing with one another that the federal government's system in dealing with illegal immigrants was insufficient and needed to be revamped.

But views quickly diverged over what action the government should take to deal with the flow of undocumented people coming into the U.S., or the growing population of those already residing within the country.

"Immigration law is like your house. You have a home, and when someone knocks on the door you can choose to invite them in," Perryman said. "If someone comes in your back door in the middle of the night and you don't know who they are, then you are going to call the police."

"The house analogy would be true if you were actually trying to keep people out of your house," Hoyt replied. "But if you left the $20 bill on the counter, and say you can sneak through the back door if you do the dishes, and then call the cops ... there's a little bit of hypocrisy there."

The tone of debate remained civil throughout, with both men finding common ground on several issues -- such as helping to build up the economies of neighboring countries and cracking down on employers who exploit illegal immigrants for cheap labor.

Both also found themselves in agreement in their opposition of a proposal to make English the country's official language, a move both said only served to distract from the larger issue. Both agreed learning English was vital for all people living in the U.S., but that it also was important for people in the U.S. to learn to speak Spanish to be able to communicate with that vast majority of people residing throughout the hemisphere.

"I think that these talks about English as the official language is inflammatory," Perryman said. "We need to learn how to speak the language in the country that we're in, but we also need to understand where we are."

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