Thread: Sarto pushes immigration talk

Sarto pushes immigration talk
(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/cour ... S1.article)

May 3, 2007

BY BEN LEFEBVRE Staff Writer

CARPENTERSVILLE -- Village President Bill Sarto wants to hold a forum on illegal immigration after learning village department heads can't estimate how many illegals may live or work here.

Sarto said he has invited immigration lawyers, lawmakers and a former director of the Chicago district of the U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization Service to speak at the forum, tentatively scheduled for May 22. He said the meeting, which would be open to the public, would help a town fixated on the issue of illegal immigration.

"The point would be to gather information," Sarto said.

"No one has really asked the experts. No one has dealt with the lawmakers, the lawyers, the immigration experts."

Sarto drew sharp criticism in November after he put pressure on the Dundee Township Park District to cancel a discussion of the illegal immigration issue that had been scheduled at the district's senior center by the League of Women Voters.

Judith Sigwalt, one of two trustees who proposed an ordinance she said would crack down on illegal immigration in the village, said a forum like the one set for later this month would be beneficial "if planned properly." She criticized Sarto's announcement, however, saying he had not alerted her or other trustees of the plan beforehand.

'No statistics'
Sarto's announcement came after the village's nine department heads told Village Manager Craig Anderson they could not estimate how many illegal immigrants live or work in the village. Their reports were a response to an April 20 request Sarto sent to them, asking that they provide Anderson "hard facts and figures" on the number of illegal immigrants working or living in the village by May 1.
"I have seen no statistics to prove to me that illegal immigration is a problem in Carpentersville," Sarto's memo stated. "If we do have a problem with illegal immigrants in Carpentersville, we must be able to identify this problem."

Anderson said the department heads had little to report.

"They said they don't have very much information on whether someone's here illegally," he said. "Even the police department just said all they can tell is whether someone is foreign-born, not their legal status."

Anecdotal evidence
Although the illegal immigration remains a hot-button issue, the only evidence about the number of illegal immigrants who may be in the Carpentersville has been anecdotal.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimated in 2005 that 12 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States. Sigwalt has estimated that about 10,000 live in Carpentersville but could not say where she obtained that number. Carpentersville has a population of 39,000 people.

Sarto and Anderson said village offices received "zero" complaints about illegal immigration before Sigwalt and fellow Trustee Paul Humpfer introduced their Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act in October. The proposal, which the board tabled in November, would strip licenses from businesses that hire illegal immigrants and penalize landlords who rent them space.

Sigwalt said she has binders full of letters from residents complaining of crime, gang activity and overcrowding, and attributing the problems to people they say are illegal immigrants. She said the proposal, if passed, would give residents "another tool" in forcing illegals out of the community.

The Carpentersville proposal is based on an ordinance that Hazleton, Pa., passed in July 2006. Several Hazleton residents were joined by Pennsylvania civil rights groups in filing a lawsuit against the city immediately after its passage. The suit states that the ordinance would infringe on the civil rights of residents and trample on the federal government's power to regulate immigration.

According to Associated Press reports, Hazleton spent more than $70,000 in donated money between December and March defending its case and could have to pay $1 million for the plaintiff's legal fees if it loses. A federal judge's ruling on the case is pending.

i can't give any firm numbers but not to long ago i drove thru carpentersville.... believe me mr sarto you have a problem. that town now looks like any 3rd world town... i guess that's the way mr sarto likes to live... on the up side mr sarto, you never have to look for a bath room.