I hope this is not a duplicate. I did a search and nothing came up.


Fox Valley immigration group looks to other projects


By Lenore T. Adkins
Daily Herald Staff Writer

When it comes to cracking down on illegal immigration, Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration has its eyes on the nation.

A pair of Carpentersville trustees have written an ordinance that would, if approved, penalize business owners and landlords who knowingly hire or rent to illegal immigrants. The village would also conduct all business in English.

But measures across the country and locally are giving them pause.

City council members in Escondido, Calif., recently abandoned a similar law after they agreed to pay $90,000 in legal fees to attorneys representing their opponents.

A similar ordinance approved in Hazleton, Pa., is now on hold, pending a court hearing.

And because the village’s president refuses to publicly discuss it, Carpentersville’s measure has spent months in limbo.

All this activity leads to one conclusion for the legal immigration group — that members should pursue other projects while they wait for the measure to come up in village hall.

“We’re taking a step back and we’re looking into things we can do in the village to make it difficult for illegal aliens to live in our village,” said Paul Humpfer, a member of the group’s executive committee and a Carpentersville trustee who co-wrote the stalled ordinance.

Humpfer hopes to revive a dissolved ordinance committee that would review existing policies on code enforcement, including overcrowding.

Landlords are also being trained not to rent to criminals, including those guilty of identity theft. Humpfer supports this program.

“If you’re illegal, you’re not supposed to be in this country, but we’re not blaming all the crime on illegals,” he said.

With the group’s new direction, Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration Chairman Robert Sperlazzo hopes to keep illegal immigrants from voting in local elections.

Members reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring local elections aren’t tainted by unauthorized votes — whether they come from citizens voting more than once, or from illegal immigrants, said Sperlazzo, a Carpentersville businessman.

Sunday marked the group’s first gathering since November. The meeting was held at the Tri-City Evergreen VFW Post 2298 in West Dundee.

But the tough talk on illegal immigration in Carpentersville started in September when Humpfer, along with Trustee Judy Sigwalt, authored Carpentersville’s ordinance outlining sanctions for those supporting illegal immigrants.

Village President Bill Sarto stifled public discussions on the topic and members also tabled the ordinance.


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