CAP Officer
The issue: Apply for a CAP Officer
The city said:
“The CAP Officer is an ICE Agent. The city has inquired as to whether or not ICE would assign an
ICE Agent to the city of Elgin's jail. ICE advised that the CAP Program is intended for use at larger
facilities such as county and state jails, and therefore ICE would not be interested in assigning a
CAP Officer to the city jail. Furthermore, since serious offenders in Elgin are incarcerated at either
the Cook County or Kane County Jail, a local CAP Officer is redundant since both of those jails have
a CAP Officer. Therefore, there is no reason to apply."
~Mayor Ed Schock
AFLA says:
The city doth protest too little, methinks.
We have taken license with the Bard of Avon here. Perhaps this direct quote from Hamlet would
be as appropriate: “Methinks it is like a weasel.”
There are two issues we wish to clarify relative to the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) officer concept.
The first is factual. It is simply not true that Immigration only has CAP officers in state prisons and
county jails. Costa Mesa California has a CAP officer. Their population is much like Elgin’s except
WE have a HIGHER percentage of foreign born residents according to the latest census data.
The second issue is one of attitude. Costa Mesa has a CAP officer simply because the city leaders
had a determination to support federal enforcement of immigration violations in their town of
108,000 people! They had applied for 287 g and the feds approached them with the CAP
alternative.
Now, Elgin officials may claim that they were unaware of this city CAP officer, but that would be
untrue. We have been forwarding information to them about the success of this program for
months now. Doug even spoke at city council meeting about it. Sorry, they can’t claim ignorance.
Now for a little history. When Elgin built their new jail 1996 an office was included for an
immigration agent. It was their practice at that time to make frequent visits to the city jail and
check on recent arrests.
But over time that program has dwindled to nearly zero interest in local arrests. By the end of
2001 (George Bush’s first year in office), Immigration wasn’t interested in DUIs and the jail visits
had been halted while ICE went after their own list of bad guys.
There was a distinct shift in attitude by the feds. “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”
But the influx of illegal aliens has ACCELERATED during that same time period. Pew Hispanic
Center reports that from 1995-1999, illegals entered the country at the rate of 575,000 per year.
From 2000-2005, the average annual rate grew to 850,000 per year.
So you see, at a time when illegal aliens were entering our communities at a higher rate, local
support from Immigration virtually ended.
Here are the exact responses from city council on the matter of a CAP officer:
Schock: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Figueroa: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Gilliam: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Kaptain: “They would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Walters: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
The other council members left out the “not be interested” phrase.
Of course they would not be interested! It would mean more work for them. It would be an
indictment against the federal government for failing to do their job. It would put pressure on
Washington to get serious about detention beds and deportation.
Their answer is, “Sorry, were not enforcing immigration laws at your level. Maybe later.” But what
if the Elgin Police tried that? Let’s suppose you called 911 to report that your car had been
stolen. Would you accept it if the dispatcher replied, “Sorry, ma’am. We aren’t focusing on auto
theft at this time. We have other priorities. Maybe you can call us back in a year.” Click.
Would you tolerate that? Absolutely not! The city needs to put some pressure on ICE rather than
meekly ask the question and accept their answer that “they would not be interested in assigning a
CAP officer.”
We know that Durbin, Obama and Bush “would not be interested in” enforcing immigration law,
but the demands of the people and local governments ARE being heard and they are rethinking
their positions.
We are paying the price locally and we want our city leaders to speak up and make public
demands, not simply be satisfied that they made the request and were turned down.
In short, ICE is happy with the status quo but the citizens of Elgin are not. Who does the city
council work for?
And I would check the mayor’s statement about a full time CAP officer at the Cook and Kane
County Jails. I don’t believe that statement is correct in either case. What they might have is the
occasional review of their inmates by someone from Immigration. That does not amount to a full
time CAP officer.
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The city said:
“The CAP Officer is an ICE Agent. The city has inquired as to whether or not ICE would assign an
ICE Agent to the city of Elgin's jail. ICE advised that the CAP Program is intended for use at larger
facilities such as county and state jails, and therefore ICE would not be interested in assigning a
CAP Officer to the city jail. Furthermore, since serious offenders in Elgin are incarcerated at either
the Cook County or Kane County Jail, a local CAP Officer is redundant since both of those jails have
a CAP Officer. Therefore, there is no reason to apply."
~Mayor Ed Schock
AFLA says:
The city doth protest too little, methinks.
We have taken license with the Bard of Avon here. Perhaps this direct quote from Hamlet would
be as appropriate: “Methinks it is like a weasel.”
There are two issues we wish to clarify relative to the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) officer concept.
The first is factual. It is simply not true that Immigration only has CAP officers in state prisons and
county jails. Costa Mesa California has a CAP officer. Their population is much like Elgin’s except
WE have a HIGHER percentage of foreign born residents according to the latest census data.
The second issue is one of attitude. Costa Mesa has a CAP officer simply because the city leaders
had a determination to support federal enforcement of immigration violations in their town of
108,000 people! They had applied for 287 g and the feds approached them with the CAP
alternative.
Now, Elgin officials may claim that they were unaware of this city CAP officer, but that would be
untrue. We have been forwarding information to them about the success of this program for
months now. Doug even spoke at city council meeting about it. Sorry, they can’t claim ignorance.
Now for a little history. When Elgin built their new jail 1996 an office was included for an
immigration agent. It was their practice at that time to make frequent visits to the city jail and
check on recent arrests.
But over time that program has dwindled to nearly zero interest in local arrests. By the end of
2001 (George Bush’s first year in office), Immigration wasn’t interested in DUIs and the jail visits
had been halted while ICE went after their own list of bad guys.
There was a distinct shift in attitude by the feds. “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”
But the influx of illegal aliens has ACCELERATED during that same time period. Pew Hispanic
Center reports that from 1995-1999, illegals entered the country at the rate of 575,000 per year.
From 2000-2005, the average annual rate grew to 850,000 per year.
So you see, at a time when illegal aliens were entering our communities at a higher rate, local
support from Immigration virtually ended.
Here are the exact responses from city council on the matter of a CAP officer:
Schock: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Figueroa: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Gilliam: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Kaptain: “They would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
Walters: “ICE would not be interested in assigning a CAP officer.”
The other council members left out the “not be interested” phrase.
Of course they would not be interested! It would mean more work for them. It would be an
indictment against the federal government for failing to do their job. It would put pressure on
Washington to get serious about detention beds and deportation.
Their answer is, “Sorry, were not enforcing immigration laws at your level. Maybe later.” But what
if the Elgin Police tried that? Let’s suppose you called 911 to report that your car had been
stolen. Would you accept it if the dispatcher replied, “Sorry, ma’am. We aren’t focusing on auto
theft at this time. We have other priorities. Maybe you can call us back in a year.” Click.
Would you tolerate that? Absolutely not! The city needs to put some pressure on ICE rather than
meekly ask the question and accept their answer that “they would not be interested in assigning a
CAP officer.”
We know that Durbin, Obama and Bush “would not be interested in” enforcing immigration law,
but the demands of the people and local governments ARE being heard and they are rethinking
their positions.
We are paying the price locally and we want our city leaders to speak up and make public
demands, not simply be satisfied that they made the request and were turned down.
In short, ICE is happy with the status quo but the citizens of Elgin are not. Who does the city
council work for?
And I would check the mayor’s statement about a full time CAP officer at the Cook and Kane
County Jails. I don’t believe that statement is correct in either case. What they might have is the
occasional review of their inmates by someone from Immigration. That does not amount to a full
time CAP officer.
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE SERIES INDEX PAGE