Top News

Carpentersville Immigration Proposal Called Dead

Village President: Anti-Illegal Immigrant Bill Has Given Village Bad Reputation

CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. (STNG) ― Eight months of debate. Thousands of raised voices in support and dissent. Tons of ink and film spilled by the media on its behalf.

And as of Tuesday's village board meeting, no forward movement whatsoever.

The board declined to bring its proposed Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Ordinance back after having tabled it in November.

Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski made a motion to bring the proposal forward. No one -- including its two sponsors -- seconded her motion.

The proposal would allow village government to strip licenses from businesses that hire illegal immigrants and fine landlords who rent to them.

The meeting saw a reversal in roles from the autumn, with the proposal's supporters now asking trustees to let it lie and its opponents demanding action -- in some cases, practically daring the board to vote on it.

"Take it off the table," Carpentersville resident and business woman Silvia Realzola told the board during public comments session.

"It's time. I hope you have the courage to do what's necessary."

Realzola, a critic of the proposal, said she believed Trustees Paul Humpfer and Judith Sigwalt used the proposal to whip emotion for their successful re-election bids in April. The two trustees have said they created the bill eight months ago after hearing residents' complaints about illegal immigrants in the village.

Village President Bill Sarto said he asked the board to bring the proposal back to make a final decision on it. He said he believed the issue has given the village a bad reputation, and after having its supporters and critics attend board meetings, along with news television cameras and reporters, he would "like it all to go away."

"I would like the cloud to lift up from this village," he said.

Most board members said before the meeting they're waiting for a federal judge's ruling on the Hazleton, Pa., law on which the proposal is based. But because that case's plaintiffs and defenders have said they'll appeal any decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, the proceedings could drag on for years -- by which time the federal government could reform the country's immigration policies enough to make local ordinances moot. "It's dead until the Supreme Court ruling," Trustee Ed Ritter said of Carpentersville's proposal before the meeting. "Anything done before that is just a waste of time."

Some trustees are signaling they're ready to move on. They point to the village's proposed creation of a code enforcement advisory board and its December application to participate in 287(g), a federal program wherein U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers train local law departments, as something they can do locally while the wheels of justice grind themselves over the Hazleton case.

"Waiting that long obviously only perpetuates the problem," Trustee Keith Hinz said recently. "There needs to be a different approach to get our house in order. If that means we have to do something not as stringent as mandating an ordinance for landlords but would have more teeth as far as code enforcement, that would be something we could do."

"In the meantime, we're trying to do what we can to improve the village overall and see where that takes us," Trustee Kay Teeter said before Tuesday's meeting. "If we make enough progress with 287(g) and getting a code enforcement advisory committee going, maybe we won't find a need" for the illegal immigration proposal.

Sigwalt, for her part, said she doesn't see the proposal dying anytime in the near future.

"From the beginning we said we're going to wait and not waste taxpayer money," Sigwalt said before the meeting. "I've got four more years on the board and so does Paul, so it's not going to fade away. If we have to wait, we have to wait."

(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)