Police and illegal immigrants: a local dilemma
Federal inaction brings immigration tension to suburbs

BY TARA MALONE
tmalone@dailyherald.com
Posted Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Three weeks after immigration reform stalled in Congress, many local governments are tackling what has long been a federal duty.

More will do the same, political experts caution, so long as the odds of changing the nation's immigration laws remain slim.

Waukegan confronted the issue this week.

Amid a maelstrom of controversy, rallies and boycotts, Waukegan city leaders stood by an earlier decision to train, equip and deputize some local police officers in immigration enforcement.

Carpentersville leaders signed on to the initiative last November, setting a precedent in Illinois.


A little-known federal statute enacted 11 years ago allows local beat cops to arrest and detain immigrants living and working here illegally. Police officers and village leaders across the suburbs and nationwide are taking note both of the potential and pitfalls."I'm certainly aware of the fears and concerns and emotions on both sides of the issue," Round Lake Beach Police Chief Douglas Larsson said Tuesday. "I can tell you I'm monitoring it."

Police leaders from Aurora to Schaumburg said they are aware of the partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But they have no plans to pursue it.

"If it got to a level where we were inundated with illegal aliens, maybe then we would consider it," Hampshire Police Chief Thomas Atchinson said. Officials in the Northwest suburb backed a resolution in April deeming English the official language of village business.

West Chicago Police Cmdr. Chris Shackelford minced no words in shelving the idea.

"We are not looking at doing anything even remotely close to that," Shackelford said.

To be clear, local officers in West Chicago, Hampshire and elsewhere routinely work with federal immigration officials. If gang members, convicted felons or violent offenders living here illegally are arrested and charged, police officers share the information with immigration officials.

Federal agents then pursue the immigration case, while local officers investigate the criminal case.

In Elgin, such a partnership dates to 1989.

Nationally, 21 agencies and 375 local officers have received five weeks of training on immigration enforcement through the 287(g) program, so named for a section in the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act. To date, none are in Illinois.

The program began in traditional entry points like Florida and Arizona, two of the six states most heavily trafficked by undocumented workers, federal statistics show. It soon broadened to places like Hudson, N.H., where 3.8 percent of the city's 7,814 residents are foreign.

Some 75 more applications - including Carpentersville's - are pending, officials said.

"We're just waiting to hear," Carpentersville Village Manager Craig Anderson said. "It takes a while."

Confronted with federal inaction on immigration reform, more local applications can be expected, said Ann Yom, government affairs director for the National Sheriff's Association.

"There is no national reform. This program is considered as an alternative for local jurisdictions in an effort to attempt to address this issue," Yom said.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reported in April that 1,169 immigration-related measures now are pending before local governments nationwide, more than double the 570 floated last year.

"It's clear immigration has become a very politicized issue when you find local city councils involved in trying to create immigration policy," said Maria De Los Angeles Torres of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Latino studies department.

More than 3,000 people drawn from all sides of the immigration debate gathered in Waukegan Monday as city leaders reconsidered the enforcement program.

Waukegan Alderman Rafael Rivera joined the 8-2 majority vote supporting city police seeking the special deportation powers, saying police officers need all the tools they can muster to combat crime. Rivera said he would not bow to pressure from immigrant rights protesters, many of whom were Hispanic, like him.

"I was threatened. I was intimidated," Rivera said toward the end of Monday night's Waukegan city council session, a sign of just how heated the issue had become.

The idea of stricter local enforcement sparked concerns that the enhanced legal latitude could divide an often-tenuous connection between police departments and immigrant communities in Waukegan and elsewhere.

"Even people who have papers, even people who are naturalized citizens are saying, 'Will they come after me?' " said Mehrdad Azemun of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "It's caused so much tension, so much fear."

Seeking to ease such anxieties, Waukegan Police Chief William Biang said two officers would be schooled in immigration enforcement. The training would better help them prosecute those suspected of violent crimes such as homicide, rape and child abuse, he said - not minor traffic breaches.

"We found that we could specifically tailor the program to our community," Biang said, "and use it as a law enforcement tool!"

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=332335