Enforcement bid vs. illegal immigration
June 22, 2008Recommend (1)
By STEVEN ROSS JOHNSON Staff Writer

ELGIN, IL -- City officials say they are pleased so far with the results of measures implemented over the past several months to combat illegal immigration locally.

In January, city leaders announced the start of four initiatives intended to provide more stringent screening of companies working for the city, as well as all foreign-born arrestees booked at the Elgin jail.

To that end, Elgin police began March 1 using the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) Agency's electronic Immigration Alien Query system, a national database that provides information on all foreign-born arrestees.

In a status report sent to members of the Elgin City Council on June 11, the police department identified 58 illegal immigrants to ICE in March and another 25 in April. Results for the month of May were still being processed, according to the report.

"Since the beginning of March, we have been screening all custodial arrests for foreign-born arrestees through the IAQ system, and we're sending a report to ICE on a monthly basis as to the results of our screening," Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack said Thursday. "The IAQ system is working, and we're receiving the information as we anticipated."

The city still was awaiting word as to when it would begin participation in ICE's Customs and Enforcement's Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security program.

ACCESS is made up of 13 programs allowing local police to team up with federal law enforcement to address criminal activity such as gangs, drugs or identification fraud. Application to ACCESS was made Jan. 18.

"We've met with ICE, and we're waiting to have further communications with them on which parts of the ACCESS program we might participate in," city Corporate Counsel William Cogley said. "That's still in its early stages."

Employee status

Cogley said positive results also could be seen in initiatives geared toward deterring companies employed by the city from hiring workers with illegal status.

In January, Elgin reinstituted use of the federal government's Web-based E-Verify screening system to check employees' Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases to verify work status.

"It's an effective tool that we intend to continue to use," Cogley said.

Also, a provision was added in all city contracts that called on companies to provide proof of the legal status of their employees.

Cogley said the city could perform employer checks based on the receipt of a complaint, or conduct an arbitrary audit of a company's records.

Recently, Mount Prospect-based Arrow Road Construction Co., which is currently contracted to do street rehabilitation work, was the first company to undergo such a review. Cogley said the company had no one in its employment identified as being of illegal status.

"We've just started out with our initial auditing procedures on those, and those will get refined over time," he said. "But initially, it seems to be working well."
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