Thread: IL: Elgin tries to crack down on illegal immigrants

Elgin tries to crack down on illegal immigrants
City to join forces with federal officials to check job applicants, contractors and inmates charged with some felonies
By Ray Quintanilla

Tribune reporter

10:46 PM CST, January 22, 2008

In response to complaints that Elgin was not doing enough to combat illegal immigration, the city unveiled a crackdown Tuesday that calls for developing closer ties with federal law enforcement agencies, screening applicants for city jobs to make sure they have valid Social Security numbers and doing random checks to make sure city contractors do not hire illegal workers.

"Our focus is the safety and security of the people in Elgin," said Susan Olafson, a city spokeswoman.

Beginning March 1, Elgin officials also will begin questioning inmates in the city's jail about their legal status. The questioning would include inmates charged with felonies involving gang offenses, drugs, sex crimes and domestic abuse, officials said.

Verifying a city job applicant's Social Security number has begun, they said.

The city of 105,000 residents—a third of whom are Latino—also has applied to participate in a U.S. Immigration and Custom's Enforcement initiative that would authorize police to work with federal agents on immigration enforcement actions, Olafson said.

David White, co-chairman of the Elgin-based Association for Legal Americans, said he welcomed the city's efforts.

"This is giving our community hope," said White, who in recent months has been critical of the city's efforts on illegal immigration. "We want to thank the City Council for taking some action."

But the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said Elgin's efforts should be watched closely for possible violations of federal civil rights laws. Coalition officials also said questions have been raised about the validity of E-Verify, a link to federal government databases of Social Security numbers that Elgin plans to use in checking job applicants.

"E-Verify has already been shown to be flawed, and this could end up with people being fired who are perfectly legal," said Fred Tsao, the group's policy director.

www.chicagotribune.com

met man who moved from there and took his money and tax base withh him because of the ""illegal invasion"" as he put it

If for any reason E-Verify messes up, which it rarely does -it would be easy for someone who really is an american citizen to prove it in other ways.COMMON SENSE - they know this,just like they do not want drivers license's to have to be shown at voting places ,border fences or tough laws on criminals because they all have one thing in common -THEY WORK!!!!!

This is fantastic. I don't live far from Elgin. But we need to go the E-Verify route as well.

thanks jean

This is great news.....I thought Elgin would be a hard nut to crack on this issue.....the pro-illegal alien lobby in Elgin has grown in the last 15 years. Most of the illegal aliens are from Mexico and some of their early advocates have gone on to positions of high power in the state and beyond. This is very encouraging and I'm grateful to Mayor Schock and the City Council. Sounds like they are being very reasonable. Elgin is the largest city in Kane County and next to Carpentersville...where they are also haveing major illegal alien crime problems and such.

The voice of the people won on this one!

i wonder if this press release by the city of elgin is to calm the public, only hours after a teacher at elgin high was stabbed many times in the head and neck by a 16yr old student with a steak knife. and why is the boy, angel fiores, charged in cook county? im pretty sure the school is in kane co. is it possible that his families and his legal status is a issue? correct me if im wrong, this looks strange. on the high side, elgin will start screening at the jail march 1st. movin pretty fast on this thing, oh, is it an election year?

"In response to complaints that Elgin was not doing enough to combat illegal immigration, the city unveiled a crackdown Tuesday that calls for developing closer ties with federal law enforcement agencies, screening applicants for city jobs to make sure they have valid Social Security numbers and doing random checks to make sure city contractors do not hire illegal workers. "

Fantastic! Why was this not being done all along!!!

Why does it take the complaints and carnage upon the American Citizen in order for the law to be enforced. I just do not understand this at all.

Elgin High School is in School District U-46 and parts of that school district are in Cook County and parts in Kane County (where the City of Elgin is). Students at Elgin H.S. come from Cook or Kane County. Elgin High School may be right on the border of Cook/Kane County.

The incident described at EHS is horrible! A very close family member graduated from EHS when it was a brand-new state of the art, modern, high school and the invasion had not started yet. It use to draw kids from some very affluent areas in Wayne, and Barltett now it's a gang-infested, IA infested school and district.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-2893--0-0.html

Originally Posted by legalatina

Elgin High School is in School District U-46 and parts of that school district are in Cook County and parts in Kane County (where the City of Elgin is). Students at Elgin H.S. come from Cook or Kane County. Elgin High School may be right on the border of Cook/Kane County.

The incident described at EHS is horrible! A very close family member graduated from EHS when it was a brand-new state of the art, modern, high school and the invasion had not started yet. It use to draw kids from some very affluent areas in Wayne, and Barltett now it's a gang-infested, IA infested school and district.

u46 does cross into cook, mabe the kid was arrested in cook. in any event, the attack is a terrible thing to happen for EHS. ive been a contractor in the area for 25yrs, and elgin is not the same city.