 |
SANCTUARY CITIES AND STATES
|
|
Immigration Sweep Puts ‘Gang Members’ Behind Bars By Deborah Horan for the Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2008 Authorities say a federal operation northwest of Chicago this week netted dozens of undocumented immigrants with ties to street gangs. Officials say the four-day effort involved police and sheriff’s departments in municipalities from Addison to Belvidere. The detainees include 48 Mexican nationals and a Guatemalan. Gail Montenegro is a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She says all but seven of those arrested have criminal histories and all but two have ties to violent groups. Waukegan, Carpentersville still awaiting training for immigration enforcement - Mayors are frustrated with federal program, and one calls it 'window dressing' By Deborah Horan for the Chicago Tribune, May 26, 2008 Months after applying for federal training to deport undocumented immigrants, the mayors of Waukegan and Carpentersville say they suspect the controversial program is plagued by such a lack of funding and political will in Washington that it might never come to their towns. Neither municipality has heard from the federal agency charged with providing the training, the mayors said, though they applied more than 10 months ago. The Lake County sheriff's office, which applied in December, has received cameras to link the jail to federal Immigration courts, but nothing else, Sheriff Mark Curran said. Wedding derailed by immigration arrest - Thousands to rally for reform Thursday after groom-to-be picked up at O'Hare Airport BY MIKE THOMAS for the Chicago Sun-Times, April 30, 2008 It was going to be a matrimonial blowout: lots of food, scores of guests and even a mariachi band. But two days before Fernando Lara Flores, 26, was due to wed his fiancee, Lucia Rodriguez, at St. Cletus Parish in La Grange, he was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at O'Hare Airport while waiting to pick up his grandmother and father. They'd flown in from Guadalajara, Mexico, for the celebration. While Chicago passed an immigrant sanctuary ordinance in 2006, O'Hare is under federal jurisdiction. Flores is now in a McHenry County federal detention center awaiting his fate. "He's so scared right now," says his sister, 28-year-old Monica Lara, who has talked with Flores several times by phone. "He's so negative. He says he doesn't want anything. He just wants to go back to Mexico." Son of deported immigration rights activist back in Chicago AP, April 27, 2008 CHICAGO - A nine-year-old boy who lived at a Chicago church with his mother for a year as she sought to avoid deportation is back in town. Saul Arellano has been living in Mexico with his mother, Elvira, since she was deported last year. The pair lived inside Adalberto United Methodist Church on Chicago's West Side. Elvira Arellano, who was in the country illegally, was deported shortly after she left the church and traveled to Los Angeles. Saul Arellano was born in the United States and is a citizen. He returned to the church Sunday for a special service and is scheduled to participate in the May First march for immigrant rights. His mother says she sent him to represent all families separated because of U.S. immigration law. A large silence on illegal immigration By Charles F. Falk for the Daily Herald, April 24, 2008 Boy, am I relieved. I must have been "sleeping at the switch" lately because I just realized our national leaders have solved a problem that has been bugging me for a long time. I am among those who have been concerned about the endless flow of illegal immigrants moving freely across our borders each day. I used to worry that among the erstwhile innocents searching for economic opportunity there could be terrorists intending us harm. I used to worry too that the illegals, once in our country's "sanctuary cities," caused too many additional crimes and drained the resources of our schools, hospitals and welfare agencies. Immigration controversy roils Evanston City Council - Officials OK revised non-binding measure after dropping language that angered some residents By Steve Bauer for the News-Gazette, March 30, 2008 A series of arrests last month by immigration officials at a Champaign mobile-home park had a family – including three children – afraid, confused and without electricity. Federal agency officials, immigration advocates and an immigration attorney all agree that immigrants need to know their rights in such a situation. Very few immigrants know what to do when confronted by immigration agents, said Pedro Gaytan, a paralegal with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. Immigration controversy roils Evanston City Council - Officials OK revised non-binding measure after dropping language that angered some residents By Deborah Horan for the Chicago Tribune, March 15, 2008 Evanston's City Council this week backed away from instructing police and government workers to not ask about a person's immigration status and dropped language calling illegal immigration foes racist after a controversial resolution to create a so-called sanctuary city angered some residents. Instead, the nine-member council unanimously passed a non-binding resolution Monday that calls on the city to reaffirm its commitment to the "humane" treatment of immigrants and appeals to the federal government to provide a road to legalization for undocumented immigrants, among other pleas. The original draft resolution caused a furor in January because of language in the preamble that suggested those opposed to illegal immigration were racist Activists Seek More Immigration Debate AP, March 6, 2008 CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — When officials in this suburban Chicago community began proposing hardline anti-illegal immigration policies last year, pro-immigrant rights activists rallied. Council meetings overflowed with thousands, mostly people who wanted to protest the proposed measures. Neighborhoods were canvassed with fliers. Coalitions formed to fight the policies. But months and many primaries later, pro-immigrant activists fear the attention paid to immigration reform has faded in Illinois and other non-border states, even in communities like Carpentersville — where more than 40 percent of 37,000 residents are Hispanic. 14th Congressional District opponents spar on immigration - Foster seeks guest worker tax that Oberweis says encourages illegal hiring By James Kimberly for the Chicago Tribune, February 23, 2008 Democratic congressional candidate Bill Foster proposed an "impact fee" for companies that hire people who enter the U.S. illegally and then become guest workers - - an idea Republican foe Jim Oberweis blasted as a tax to allow businesses to break the law. Mexican President's Visit To Chicago Tinged With Controversy By NBC 5 - Chicago, February 12, 2008 CHICAGO -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon came to Chicago on Tuesday, where he addressed a large crowd at a Little Village high school and briefly met with Mayor Richard M. Daley. |
