Answers about AFLA
Sometimes we feel so misunderstood. We’d like to use this
space to address some of the controversy.
Where did you come up with the figure of 8,000 illegals in Elgin?
When you watch public television you see programs sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust. The Pew family
from Philadelphia was generous with their money and set up an organization to do good things. An arm of
that organization is the Pew Hispanic Center. They do all sorts of studies related to the Hispanic population.
One study was the characteristics of illegal aliens. You can read the report at this link: http://pewhispanic.
org/files/reports/61.pdf
Now, the organization leans a little to the left and many people believe their estimates are way too low. But
these low estimates are sufficient to prove the point.
On page four of that report, they explain that 30% of the foreign-born population in the United States is here
illegally. Data from the 2006 US Census Factfinder tells us that Elgin has a foreign-born population of
28,700 people. 28,700 times 30% = 8,610
Why do you claim that all Hispanics are illegal?
We don’t! On our home page and on page one of our mailer we say, “42% of Elgin’s population is now
Hispanic or approximately 44,940. Around 8,000 of those live here illegally.”
So why do you look at the illegal problem as a Hispanic problem?
First of all, we have a problem with the presence of all illegals, regardless of race or ethnicity. We don’t care
if they are from China, or Germany, or Canada, or Chad… Doug’s wife had her identity stolen by an illegal
alien from Romania.
But we are not willing to sit silently while a significant subset of the Hispanic population lives and works here
illegally. The city knows they are here. The police know they are here. AFLA is all about giving our society
permission to talk about it.
Why Hispanics?
Once again, we refer you to that Pew Hispanic Center report above. On page five of the report it lists the
country of birth of the illegal alien population. It reveals that 56% of all illegal aliens are from Mexico.
Another 22% are from the rest of Latin America. This means that four out of five illegal aliens are Hispanic.
The next group is 13% from Asia. Does any rational person in Elgin, seeing the bilingual program and the
Spanish-language stores, believe that the illegal alien problem in our town isn’t overwhelmingly a Hispanic
problem?
This whole appearance of “racism” is a demographic reality of their creation. They came here illegally,
primarily from Mexico. They chose to create an enclave rather than assimilate. Don’t call us racists for
pointing out the reality of the problem.
Why are you picking on the Elgin City Council?
Well, we aren’t. We’ve written to Ruth Munson, Mike Noland, Rod Blagojevich, and Lisa Madigan to address
these same issues. Here are some of the state issues we’ve notified them about:
copy the papers when we make our requests.
What’s this about anchor babies?
We’ve got a link in our “Classroom” section about the 14th Amendment. You should study the various pages
of that link to know what the term means. This is a critical part of the illegal alien problem. Anchor babies
are the source of free labor and delivery services at the hospitals, school crowding, converting illegal parents
to legal residents, access to welfare services paid from our taxes, the college tuition battle, and all sorts of
heartache for families.
We believe the law needs to change.
We talk about it a great deal because data (Pew Hispanic Center again) suggests that there are 3.1 million
anchor babies in the United States. And Kane County ranks 22nd in the ENTIRE NATION in the percentage of
babies born to illegal aliens. (See the link: http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back805.html) It is a local
problem.
Again, we can pretend the illegal alien problem doesn’t exist or we can talk about it.
We understand it is uncomfortable to talk about things like this, but the magnitude of the problem and the
accelerated growth in people coming here illegally means it is time to take a stand. The way we see it there
has been a great deal of noise from Latino advocacy groups. We just want everyone to know there is
another side to this issue and we want to tell it. That’s what AFLA is all about.
space to address some of the controversy.
Where did you come up with the figure of 8,000 illegals in Elgin?
When you watch public television you see programs sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust. The Pew family
from Philadelphia was generous with their money and set up an organization to do good things. An arm of
that organization is the Pew Hispanic Center. They do all sorts of studies related to the Hispanic population.
One study was the characteristics of illegal aliens. You can read the report at this link: http://pewhispanic.
org/files/reports/61.pdf
Now, the organization leans a little to the left and many people believe their estimates are way too low. But
these low estimates are sufficient to prove the point.
On page four of that report, they explain that 30% of the foreign-born population in the United States is here
illegally. Data from the 2006 US Census Factfinder tells us that Elgin has a foreign-born population of
28,700 people. 28,700 times 30% = 8,610
Why do you claim that all Hispanics are illegal?
We don’t! On our home page and on page one of our mailer we say, “42% of Elgin’s population is now
Hispanic or approximately 44,940. Around 8,000 of those live here illegally.”
So why do you look at the illegal problem as a Hispanic problem?
First of all, we have a problem with the presence of all illegals, regardless of race or ethnicity. We don’t care
if they are from China, or Germany, or Canada, or Chad… Doug’s wife had her identity stolen by an illegal
alien from Romania.
But we are not willing to sit silently while a significant subset of the Hispanic population lives and works here
illegally. The city knows they are here. The police know they are here. AFLA is all about giving our society
permission to talk about it.
Why Hispanics?
Once again, we refer you to that Pew Hispanic Center report above. On page five of the report it lists the
country of birth of the illegal alien population. It reveals that 56% of all illegal aliens are from Mexico.
Another 22% are from the rest of Latin America. This means that four out of five illegal aliens are Hispanic.
The next group is 13% from Asia. Does any rational person in Elgin, seeing the bilingual program and the
Spanish-language stores, believe that the illegal alien problem in our town isn’t overwhelmingly a Hispanic
problem?
This whole appearance of “racism” is a demographic reality of their creation. They came here illegally,
primarily from Mexico. They chose to create an enclave rather than assimilate. Don’t call us racists for
pointing out the reality of the problem.
Why are you picking on the Elgin City Council?
Well, we aren’t. We’ve written to Ruth Munson, Mike Noland, Rod Blagojevich, and Lisa Madigan to address
these same issues. Here are some of the state issues we’ve notified them about:
- Restoring E-Verify so businesses can check new hires.
- 100% screening of criminals like New Jersey and Colorado have.
- Using State Police as 287g officers.
- NOT giving drivers licenses to illegals.
- And we’ve complained to the Kane County State’s Attorney for being soft on identity theft.
copy the papers when we make our requests.
What’s this about anchor babies?
We’ve got a link in our “Classroom” section about the 14th Amendment. You should study the various pages
of that link to know what the term means. This is a critical part of the illegal alien problem. Anchor babies
are the source of free labor and delivery services at the hospitals, school crowding, converting illegal parents
to legal residents, access to welfare services paid from our taxes, the college tuition battle, and all sorts of
heartache for families.
We believe the law needs to change.
We talk about it a great deal because data (Pew Hispanic Center again) suggests that there are 3.1 million
anchor babies in the United States. And Kane County ranks 22nd in the ENTIRE NATION in the percentage of
babies born to illegal aliens. (See the link: http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back805.html) It is a local
problem.
Again, we can pretend the illegal alien problem doesn’t exist or we can talk about it.
We understand it is uncomfortable to talk about things like this, but the magnitude of the problem and the
accelerated growth in people coming here illegally means it is time to take a stand. The way we see it there
has been a great deal of noise from Latino advocacy groups. We just want everyone to know there is
another side to this issue and we want to tell it. That’s what AFLA is all about.