http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 6278.story

Proposal leads to boycott threat
Waukegan cops would enforce immigration

By Andrew L. Wang
Tribune staff reporter

July 4, 2007

Activists in Waukegan who oppose a program that would empower police to enforce federal immigration law ratcheted up the rhetoric this week, threatening to boycott businesses that support the measure.

Jose Guzman, head of the Waukegan branch of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, said the city's Latino residents are fed up with mistreatment at the hands of police. The city's unwillingness to back off pursuing federal immigration training is a line in the sand, Guzman said, and another example of what he called Waukegan's "anti-immigrant" policies.

"We can finish this tomorrow, we can do this today; all they have to do is pull out [of the program]," Guzman said. "We don't want to [boycott], but they forced us to do it."

He said many details of the boycott, being organized by his group and the Chicago-based immigrant-rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, have yet to be determined. Organizers will attempt to determine which local businesses support the federal program and broadcast the information via Spanish-language radio and meetings, asking residents not to patronize those establishments.

Guzman and other activists in the city have been in an uproar in the last two weeks, since the City Council authorized Police Chief William Biang to apply to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to participate in a program to train officers in immigration functions.

Biang has said the program, referred to as "287(g)" after a section of the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, would allow some officers to start deportation proceedings for immigrants convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug-related felonies.

But as Guzman led a demonstration of about 500 protesters Monday night at Waukegan City Hall, other advocates questioned whether a boycott might sour the city's already bitter relationship with the Latino community.

"All [the boycott] does is give more support for the public who is rallying against the immigrant," said Rev. Gary Graf of Holy Family Catholic Church.

Graf organized a public meeting with Mayor Richard Hyde last week in an effort to open a dialogue about the program.

Thousands of people, many of them members of Holy Family's predominantly Latino congregation, attended the meeting. Hyde said at the meeting that the city still planned to apply for 287(g) certification but also vowed that police officers would not engage in racial profiling. Rather, he said, officers would use the powers only against violent offenders and known criminals.

Graf said Tuesday that he thought the threatened boycott put any gains made at the meeting in jeopardy. The over-the-top rhetoric of some activists, he said, makes the city more likely to "blow off" their concerns.

"Unfortunately, all it does is make the Latino community look more crazed," Graf said. "I think the mayor is going to be encouraged to have more of a heavy hand with the community, and I fear that."

To Guzman, though, the police's past actions call for a drastic response.

In 2004, the City Council passed an ordinance that empowered police to impound the vehicles of drivers pulled over without a valid driver's license or proof of insurance and required the drivers to pay $500 to get their cars back. Many in the immigrant community say police target people based on their ethnicity.

"They promised us that they [would] never go after the working people, they would only be targeting the drunk drivers and criminals, and that's not true," Guzman said.

In January 2006, Guzman's nephew Roberto Gonzalez, high on cocaine and hallucinating, died in a struggle with Waukegan officers. Family members blame the police for his death, and Guzman said the incident is an example of how officers can abuse their power.

Meanwhile, officials are working out the details of what exactly Waukegan police would be empowered to do. No application has yet been submitted to the federal agency.

Deputy Chief Dan Greathouse said police are walking a fine line between activists who only want serious criminals targeted and others who want deportation for immigrants who commit even the most minor infractions.

"Like anything that's controversial," he said, "it's a hot potato."