Thread: Sides Of Immigrant Issue Clash At City Hall

http://www.journal-topics.com/dp/06/dp060913.11.html

Sides Of Immigrant Issue Clash At City Hall
By CRAIG ADAMS

Journal Reporter

A local advocate of legal immigration clashed with the president of the Des Plaines Hispanic Advisory Council at the last regular City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Paul Klein, meetings director of Citizens for Legal Immigration, asked aldermen to investigate violations of the city's occupancy code that governs, among other things, the number of people allowed to live in apartments. He referred to a recent fire in Chicago where six children died in a three-bedroom apartment where 11 people lived. Klein also mentioned a case where eight people were found living in a one-bedroom apartment in unincorporated Des Plaines. In both cases, illegal aliens were living in the residences.

"Des Plaines has an occupancy code," Klein said. He explained that to attend public school, children must provide proof of residency. "I asked the City Council to cross check the enrollment records to see if there are violations of the city's occupancy code."

Klein feels the schools should be able to provide an analysis of addresses used by multiple children. Then the city can make sure those residences are large enough to hold that many people.

"We're not going to have something happen here that happened in Chicago and that happened in unincorporated Cook County," Klein said.

According to Klein, many people in the City Council Chambers applauded his comments. He added when he stepped down, a woman sitting in the front row came up to the podium. "She got up from where she was sitting and immediately went up to the podium because she wanted to rebut me. There were still people waiting to speak," Klein said. The woman, identified as Mariana Tamayo, president of the Des Plaines Hispanic Advisory Council, addressed Klein and the council, Klein said.

"She addressed me specifically," he said. "She asked the council to ignore everything I said."

Klein added he told the aldermen he would be back in October for a response on his request. "I would like to know exactly from them what they're going to do about it," he said. "When I go next month, and they say, 'Nothing,' it's on the public record."

Klein related that during the meeting Mayor Tony Arredia said, "This is why getting into these political discussions at this meeting is sometimes not the best place." Klein did not understand how political issues were not proper at a City Council meeting. "He (Arredia) is so clueless," he said.

Klein said safety is still his first concern with the occupancy code. "Everybody turns a blind eye to how many people are living in an apartment," he said. "I'm just trying to do what mainstream America is afraid to do."

Attempts by the Journal to contact Mariana Tamayo, president of the Hispanic Council, were unsuccessful.

At last week's meeting she said that she "does not appreciate the negative" comments made about illegals." She said illegal aliens to the U.S. pay taxes like legal citizens do, but that illegal aliens do not receive the same kind of social benefits others do.

Thank goodness there are people out there who have the guts to do something about this nonsense. I have too many people living in condos in my building and what I have been doing is notifying the code enforcement people. They check up on them and deal with it. I was actually able to get rid of 6 people who were living in a 2 bedroom condo across from me. I will not stop at that and will do the same to others. They have it too good and this has got to stop!