Elgin shouldn't cave to AFLA

Speak Out Against Prejudice (SOAP) is committed to confronting racism, prejudice or discrimination. We're concerned about the city of Elgin's process to determine whether to audit employees of companies who do work for the city.

A costly, full-blown audit turned up nothing. Two prior investigations of a roofing company and a construction company also turned up nothing. As Elgin residents and business owners, it's reassuring to know that these city contractors are in compliance with our laws.

According to the Herald's article, "the city investigated because members of the Association for Legal Americans said they had reliable information that undocumented workers were at the golf course" but fails to mention what that "reliable information" was. This gives us reason to pause.

A golf course, a roofing company, and a construction company. Could it be that such companies typically employ Hispanic workers? Could it be that such workers had brown skin, or at times spoke Spanish? Obviously the "information" was not "reliable" since the expensive audits turned up nothing.

The city of Elgin should not be hijacked by a small fringe group of individuals who erroneously think the city's priorities should be to spend its scarce resources pursuing a red herring rather than seeking ways in which to address the budget, delivering city services in the face of imminent layoffs and continuing to attract significant business development.

Profiling companies based merely on the fact that Hispanics work there is profoundly offensive to American values, not to mention legally questionable. It's time for the city to stop listening to the few who scream the loudest and instead embrace our diversity as the strength that it is.

Shirley Sadjadi

Arnoldo Fabela

Veronica Laude Noland

Speak Out Against Prejudice

Elgin