Thread: Immigrant plan put on hold in C'ville

Immigrant plan put on hold by suburb
Officials will watch challenge to law in Pa.

By George Houde and John Keilman, Chicago Tribune. John Keilman is a Tribune staff reporter; George Houde is a freelance reporter
Published October 18, 2006


After heated and sometimes acrimonious debate Tuesday night, the Carpentersville Village Board tabled indefinitely a measure targeting employers and landlords who hire or rent to illegal immigrants.

The Village Board had planned to discuss dates and a larger location for public hearings on the proposal but decided to delay any vote until legal challenges to a similar ordinance passed in Pennsylvania have been exhausted.



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The issue continued to draw hundreds of demonstrators, who gathered in front of Village Hall using bullhorns and waving signs to protest the proposal.

The board deliberated in front of a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people. No public comment on the proposal was allowed.

Trustee Ed Ritter said the measure had divided the community. His proposal to table it passed 4-3.

"Why should we go through this pain in our community--and it is pain--if it will be declared illegal," he said.

Trustee Judy Sigwalt, who wrote the proposal with colleague Paul Humpfer, vehemently disagreed, saying: "Our fathers on Capitol Hill have to sit up and take notice that we're not going to take it anymore and we can't afford it anymore. We said everyone should be heard, and by tabling this it's cutting off their voices at the throat."

On Oct. 3 an unexpectedly large crowd of 3,000 people forced Carpentersville to postpone discussion of the proposal.

Anticipating another heavy turnout, the village considered holding public hearings in Dundee-Crown High School's gymnasium, a vacant store, a local mega-church and the new 11,000-seat Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

The search for a suitable site had been just one of the side issues of the ordinance, which would penalize businesses for employing illegal immigrants and landlords for renting apartments to them.

Village President Bill Sarto, who opposes the ordinance, briefly threatened to remove Humpfer and Sigwalt from a committee unless they withdrew their plan.

An insurer has warned Carpentersville that it might not cover the village's legal bills if the ordinance was met by litigation.

But citing strong support from their constituents, Humpfer and Sigwalt have said they would push forward with the proposal.

They have said they have changed their original plan to match an ordinance passed in Hazleton, Pa., which requires prospective tenants to get permits from the city before they can rent housing.

The city checks the prospective tenant's documents against a federal database to determine whether the person is in the country legally.

Landlords can be fined if they rent to people who don't have a permit.

The measure also allows the city to suspend the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants, though they can avoid penalties by firing the workers.

The Hazleton ordinance has been the subject of litigation and has yet to be enforced.

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jkeilman@tribune.com



Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... dImmigrant

Damn. They backed down to mob rule.

A few more council's like this and we will all be living like they do in Guatemala if we are not already!

W

Got that W. I was disappointed to hear this especially since I've been going to other sights and see that this "bully mentality" is part of the plan. It's like they are hanging us with our own legal system. If you can't scare them, shame them, then we'll hold it up in the court system to financially break you ,and buss them in to out number you, till you cave. If this isn't a thourghly planned and financially backed takeover......I'm Dolly Parton.