AFLA Update - City of Elgin Initiatives
By Doug Heaton, June 25, 2008
Dave White and I recently had a chance to sit down with city officials to discuss the progress of the City of Elgin
initiatives to combat illegal aliens.
We were both rather impressed actually. Above all, we felt that they understood the problem and were making
reasonable efforts in several areas.
Here are the details we obtained regarding the four initiatives the city announced on January 22nd of this year:
Screening of all foreign-born arrestees booked into the city jail. They committed to begin screening on March 1st. The
first record we were shown was an individual arrested on February 29th for driving on a suspended license.
In March, Elgin Police identified and reported to Immigration 58 individuals who were in the country illegally.
In April, they identified 25 more.
The May report has not yet been released.
The report also indicated that the city was working with Immigration to refine the report and streamline the process.
That’s a very good sign.
Using E-Verify to screen new hires in city departments. There was a period of a few months when the city suspended
screening of new hires due to changes in Illinois law. They resumed screening in January.
So far no illegal aliens have been detected as city employees. City staff was not surprised, remarking that someone
without work authorization would have to be very foolish to apply for work at a government office. (They are unaware
that a Social Security audit released in 2006 found illegals working at government agencies at Federal, State, and Local
departments!)
Caution: The state law forbidding the use of E-Verify is currently on hold. A recent revision did not pass the legislature.
We must contact our state senator and state rep and insist that participation in E-Verify be allowed for private industry
and government agencies.
Checking on contractors hired to do city projects. The city has sent out the message loud and clear that anyone who
does work for the city MUST be legal. They are in the process of conducting an audit of a contractor doing street
rehab. These audits will be random. Anyone with inside information (not just rumors or assumptions) about violations
of this policy should forward details to the city manager.
Immigration’s ACCESS program. ICE ACCESS is an acronym for a new Immigration program designed to tailor federal
programs to the needs of individual cities. As you may know, AFLA is not too keen on this one. It offers nothing new. If
they agreed to giving us a CAP officer (which Immigration refuses to do) or sign a 287(g) agreement (which the city
does not want) we might have something.
Little progress has been made, but the city has been trying. Several meetings have been held, including a trip to
Washington by Chief Womack. She met with the Assistant Secretary at Immigration.
This might just be speculation on my part, but I think the city recognizes the need to develop something more than what
we’ve already received. We already have occasional gang sweeps using Operation Community Shield. We already use
the alien database (LESC). And they will always pick up sexual predators.
There are a couple of cross-designation team possibilities that are not as formal as 287(g) but just as effective given
the right personalities and cooperation. Such a program may take more time to put together.
Summary. We are making progress here. The tone of the meeting was open and cooperative. They are more than
willing to share information with us. And we are planning a quarterly review of progress.
These early reports indicate that Elgin Police are identifying and reporting approximately ten criminal illegal aliens a
week. Once identified with fingerprints and photos in the system these perpetrators are easier to track and are one
step closer to deportation.
We would like to see them all sent home directly from the jail but Immigration’s capacity is very limited. But the city has
done their part.
A recent report to city council indicates that of the 1088 known gang members in town 10% of them have been
deported. This tells us that the illegal alien population does indeed contribute to the level of crime in the city. We are
wise to track that activity and insist on the enforcement of federal laws.
If any AFLA supporters are interested in the details we received or attending the next review (probably in September)
please let me know at afla.heaton@sbcglobal.net.