One big year

A little more than a year ago, Carpentersville trustees fashioned what officials believed was the state's first local law that would punish business owners and landlords for hiring or renting to illegal immigrants.

In the five years before trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt introduced the Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act, illegal immigration was mentioned once at a village board meeting, board minutes show.

Last year, the village joined about 100 towns nationally in introducing laws to crack down on problems attributed to illegal immigration, such as increased crime and crowded homes and schools.

The Carpentersville measure has not been enacted and five of seven trustees refuse to drop the measure, waiting for litigation in other towns to be resolved.

Still, since the measure was brought up at the Oct. 3, 2006, village board meeting -- attended by 3,000 people -- it has had far-reaching effects.

The proposal spurred lawsuit threats from civil and immigrant rights groups.

There were calls to boycott Carpentersville businesses. Public forums on the costs and what communities can and cannot do with illegal immigration were held. Others were canceled because of the controversy.

For months, the public comment period at board meetings passed the two-hour mark.

The campaign slate of Humpfer, Sigwalt and Trustee Keith Hinz swept the April village board election on the back of the crackdown plan.

Most recently, the measure prompted a $30 million lawsuit filed by a mother who claimed paramedics failed to take her baby to the hospital because he was Hispanic. The baby suffered brain damage.

Proponents say the measure opened the door for actions such as the crime-free housing ordinance, the request for funding for federal 287(g) police immigration enforcement training, and a symbolic resolution declaring English the village's official language.

"I think it has forced the village to ask some tough questions about illegal immigration," Humpfer said. "It has raised the awareness in town that illegal aliens in Carpentersville are part of a problem the nation is facing."

Evidence of the problem, Humpfer said, can be found in local newspapers.

"You can see what happens in the paper on a daily basis -- illegal aliens are caught daily committing crimes," Humpfer said. "There have been crimes committed recently where we learn the person is here illegally."

Those against the proposal, however, say the measure is racist and has created a hostile atmosphere for the village's Hispanic residents, who account for more than 40 percent of the village's populace.

"I do not see one positive that has come out of this," village President Bill Sarto said. "This has stirred up a hornet's nest in a community that has a very large Hispanic community. Now we are seen as a racist -- and not a welcoming -- place to live."

Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski said the ordinance has also brought fear to the community.

"I think that it needs to be put to rest once and for all so people of Carpentersville can go on with their lives and not continue in limbo," Ramirez-Sliwinski said. "It is hard to live your life when you cannot make plans."

The exact effect of the ordinance is unclear. Opponents like Sarto and Ramirez-Sliwinski say businesses have left the village.

But Community Development and Special Projects Coordinator Janice Murphy isn't so sure, while acknowledging that six businesses have closed in the past year.

"It is not much of a list and I don't know that any are directly related to the ordinance," Murphy said. "The number of new businesses that have come into town is many times over the number that have left."

Still, some store managers say many customers are uneasy and could leave the village at any moment.

"People who come to the store talk about it and they say they are going to move.," said Aldo Escobar, the manager of the La Rosita grocery store on Route 68. "They are scared. They say, 'They don't want us here, so let's go to another place.' That would hurt us."

While other towns have retracted similar ordinances as the social, financial and legal costs of fighting illegal immigration become apparent, Carpentersville trustees insist on waiting.

They say they will not act on the measure until there is a Supreme Court ruling on the Hazleton, Pa., case.

A federal judge in July ruled Hazleton's ordinance, which would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, unconstitutional.

The city appealed the decision but was then sued by its insurance carrier, which refused to pick up the $2 million in legal bills.

But Carpentersville trustees will hold their ground.

"We can't discuss making a change to the proposal until we know what happens with Hazleton," Trustee Kay Teeter said. "We need to wait and see what modifications need to be made so that it will be able to stand up to a legal challenge."