Elgin gearing for immigration survey

The Association for Legal Americans has yet to approach the Elgin City Council.

But city council members already are preparing their response to the group's call for tougher local policies on illegal immigration.

City officials say their legal department is looking into the ramifications of seven policy proposals intended to discourage illegal immigrants from living in Elgin. They include making English the official language of Elgin, and preventing businesses that hire illegal immigrants from receiving city contracts.

"We've asked our corporation counsel to research all those questions to see what's legal, what's possible," council member Bob Gilliam said. "We anticipate a response sometime next week."

The group had mailed more than 1,000 letters last month -- and hand-delivered hundreds more -- asking residents whether they would support specific policies on illegal immigration.

David White, the group's co-director, said they've received about 2,000 responses, and that the overwhelming response is that people want the city to more aggressively halt illegal immigration in town.

White said when the survey was announced that it wasn't meant to be scientific and that the group is just looking for a sampling of opinions.

White says group members want to collect more than 3,000 signatures before taking the matter to the city council. They plan to go door-to-door to solicit additional responses, he said.

If you would like to take the group's survey, you can visit the association's Web site at www.legalamericans.net.