Jul 12, 2007 6:54 pm US/Central
Waukegan Prepares For Big Vote On Immigration Law
by Katie McCall
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) ―
Immigrant groups are fighting a police training program fearing it will lead to racial profiling in Waukegan. As CBS 2 North Suburban Bureau Chief Katie McCall reports, battle lines are drawn ahead of a big vote on Monday.
Waukegan City Hall only seats 300 people but thousands are expected to be there on Monday to protest a program they say will unfairly target undocumented immigrants. Orange protest signs at Waukegan businesses are calling on the city to reconsider training police officers to enforce immigration law.
"We're living a crisis here in the city of Waukegan," said Ramon Becerra.
Immigrants' rights groups say the city's 7-to-2 vote to apply for a program to train two detectives in immigration enforcement will result in racial profiling and the harassment of undocumented immigrants.
Police say it would allow them to deport violent offenders without the assistance of overburdened federal agents.
Lilia Paredes we will not feed the beast of hatred by compliance or compromise.
The council will vote Monday on a motion to withdraw the application for the federal program known as 286 (G).
"We're here supporting against 286 (G)," said business owner George Morales. We're here to give them all our support."
Activists claim there are hundreds of local business owners who opposed this program but police say that the program is designed to protect the business owners and all citizens of Waukegan from dangerous criminals.
"It's designed and it's meant deal with serious criminal violations, felonies like aggravated criminal sexual assault, drug sales, gang activity and terrorism – those kinds of issues," said Chief Bill Biang of the Waukegan Police Department.
For now, opponents are encouraging people to boycott any business not displaying the orange protest sign.
(CBS 2 and the Lake County News-Sun are news partners covering stories in the north suburbs of Chicago. If you know of stories happening in this region,
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