40 Comments - Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:37 am: “This race”? Hey, Welcome to Carpentersville. Just try to ignore that one-third of the carpenters in Illinois are immigrants. - Will - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:47 am: I’m glad the Courier News carried the quotes. All the talk about people only opposing *illegal* immigration is putting lipstick on a pig. It still comes down to racism and xenophobia. If someone’s only gripe is illegal immigration then they should advocate open borders and the problem would be solved. All immigrants would be legal. Now why don’t they support that? - ChampaignDweller - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:51 am: Will–I guess we could just get rid of all criminal statutes–then our society would be crime free. That would solve the problem, wouldn’t it? - Will - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:57 am: ChampaignDweller, what problem are we talking about? Yes, it would solve the illegal immigration problem. If your real problem is that you don’t like immigration in general, then no, the problem won’t be solved. Why can’t people just be honest about the fact that they don’t like “those people” coming over here instead of hiding behind the claim that they only dislike “illegal” immigrants? - i d - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:59 am: I am sorry but it is not racism nor xenophobi to want to deny privileges to criminals. How can it be okay to strip driving privileges from a citizen that fails to have car insurance and, at the same time, allow criminals to buy cars and buy insurance. With this kind of thinking, it seems logical to allow criminals to be given FOID cards and allow them to buy and carry guns. - Anon - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:04 am: Many people scream, “Open borders! Open borders!” when talking about trade policy. Suddenly, when we’re talking about immigration using the words “open borders” make you some sort of traitor. So open borders are good as long as you don’t have to actually see the people that the United States’ economic policies are exploiting? - SilverBackDemocrat - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:22 am: Those quotes from them folk in the article are straight racist; there is no getting around that fact. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who believe in that thinking (listen to the CODE words people on the anti-immigrant side is using). The writing is on the walls but apparently, people are not reading the writing on the walls (”who moved my cheese”). - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:23 am: HB1100 is just another reward for ILLEGAL ALIENS who have violated our laws and another incentive to come to the state of Illinois. HB1100 even allows standard provisions to obtain the Driver’s Certificate without first having Insurance, (A Major Safety Argument for the Bill is they will be insured). Insurance is required ONLY after 30 days and ONLY on a vehicle to which the driver has title of ownership, thus only a vehicle that the State Can Prove is the Certificate Holder’s Vehicle. This does not account for vehicles the Cert Holder had previously registered using false ID and didn’t disclose during the licensing process, or any other vehicle owned by somebody else unlicensed or uninsured whom they borrow. REF: HB1100, Amendment 3, Page 11& 12. HB1100 which requires the IL Secretary of States Office to aid and abet illegal aliens by collecting their False Driver’s Licenses and then being REQUIRED to destroy the evidence within 24 hours under most circumstances! REF: HB1100, Amendment 3, Page 10-11, Section (D). (Use of Counterfeit or Falsified Drivers Licenses is a Class 4 Felony violation in many cases) - babs - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:25 am: The quotes certainly clear up the question of whether there was a need for Barack to have the secret service protection. - Anne - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:27 am: I thought maybe the comment about Corona and Tequila was in reference to my husband. He is Dutch if that matters. - frustrated GOP - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:33 am: Way back when horse and wagon’s were used to cart off the criminals to jail They’d say “Look there goes Patty in the Wagon again.” The term pattywagon. “Irish need not apply” Union solders would write home about a town they went through “No white people, only blacks, Jews and Irish.” Same for Chinese on the west coast. Same sentiments different language and different culture. Besides if we kicked out all the illegal immigrants who’s going to fund the social security system? Really, how much have we benefited by those funds along with the labor provided? Thank God they broguht the Tequila, they can have the Corona. - He makes Ryan look like a saint - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:40 am: This is a double edge sword. On one hand I can see the peoples frustration. If someone is breaking the law (being in the country illegal) then they need to be arrested and deported, not given a drivers license. On the other hand, some of the Lazy a$$es that don’t have a job, and won’t take the jobs the “illegals” are doing need to get to work, that would stop them from coming up here and taking the jobs. My concern is once we offer them a Drivers license, free health care, etc. they will come here and our cost will skyrocket much like California. - frustrated GOP - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:53 am: When do we start talking about the problem and not the symptoms. People come here for a better life. Why, becauase life in their home country sucks. why, because since Pres. Monroe american companies have kept any assemblance of labor and education reform out of Central and South American. Maybe it’s time to repeal HAFTA and insist on some real reform systems that might encourage reinvestment and growth south of the Rio Grande. - cermak_rd - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:58 am: What’s with Carpentersville? I live near Cicero a community with a huge immigrant population and in Berwyn which also has a large immigrant population, and I don’t see this kind of blatant, open, in-your-face bigotry. Or maybe it’s there and I don’t see it. - Louis G. Atsaves - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 11:06 am: Check out the anonymous daily Talk of Lake County section of the Waukegan News-Sun. These attitudes exist in parts of Lake County as well. - fedup dem - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 11:57 am: I would like to say something nice about the people of Carpentersville, and if you give me about a year I may come up with something. By the way, the silence coming from the Congressman from that district (Denny Hastert) speaks volumes about the former Speaker. - Squideshi - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 12:26 pm: I strongly disagree with the person demanding “race loyalty” and would have actually seen dual-citizenship as an advantage for a legislator. For example, Dorian Breuer, the Green Party’s canidate for State Senator in the 1st District, is a citizen of three different countries–the United States, Uruguay and the United Kingdom! In addition, he was born in Mexico City. - Just Saying - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 12:48 pm: I think what gets lost here in the debate over illegal immigration is proportionality. Crossing the border illegally for years has been a civil offense, not a crime. (That may have changed recently, but I don’t remember.) Even if it is a crime, how serious is it? Is it like, say, speeding on your way to work? No, it’s more serious. Does it merit long prison sentences? That’s probably a bit too extreme, at least for most people who don’t subscribe to the Carpentersville Credo. So what do you do with a relatively healthy population that, by and large, is here to work? Putting ‘em in jail is more expensive and less productive. You could deport ‘em (well, theoretically, anyway), leaving a gaping hole in our economy, which means you’d pay more for food unless, somehow, we find people willing to slaughter hogs, harvest fruit and sweep floors for less than they do. Or we could try to integrate them into society, by requiring that they stay out of trouble, pay taxes, pay a fine, learn English and wait their turn, even if it takes a decade, for citizenship. The latter seems like a punishment proportionate to the offense. And I’m not surprised at all that it’s Carpentersville and not Cicero where all this vitriol is coming from. People are scared with what they’re not familiar with. It’s places where immigrants are a new presence where the big backlashes generally takes place which, these days, seems to be the suburbs and rural areas. - Cassandra - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 12:50 pm: The race issue as applied to illegal immigration is a distraction at best, and, I agree, racist at worst. The real issue is that if you spend a lot of time outside the country (as I do–I’m outside it right now) you realize that to hundreds of millions of people, America really is a shining city on a hill–the place to which they most want to emigrate. Europe, with its lavish social welfare benefits, is an ok alternative, but America is the real goal, even though the social welfare net is far less comprehensive. If this is the case, shouldn’t we have a little more control over who gets in here. Right now, we have almost none. Shouldn’t there be more diversity in the immigration pool. More Africans, more, yes, Middle Easterners, 911 notwithstanding. In addition, the current majority crop of illegals come from countries where the rule of law is nonexistent. Violence against women, violence against children, general public violence, driving drunk,–there are few if any penalties for these behaviors. So communities which must absorb large numbers of illegals must, in effect, educate these new residents that these kinds of behaviors are not ok in the US. It’s not as easy as you might think, and it’s expensive. A little sympathy is need for citizens of towns like Carpentersville, from all of us, including wealthy Democratic liberals whose communities are, of course, immigrant-free except for the help. - steve schnorf - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 1:20 pm: Cermak, you sure don’t have a very long memory regarding Cicero, and Berwyn. - The Conservative - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 1:50 pm: Can someone explain why our politicians are pandering “ILLEGAL residents”. Open the doors to our prisons there is no difference. These are people who stole their way into our country, who drive without insurance and use the emergency medical care as their private insurance. I understand “all they want is to better themselves”, the pickpocket or mugger wants the same. All criminals “want to better their lives”. The welfare cheat wants a better life as well, yet we lock them up. Throw open the doors to all the prisons let everyone out. Could it be as simple as certain political groups see this as a way of gaining large blocks of votes. If that is the case then they are no better than the criminals they support. How hard do you think it will be to go from driving certificates to voting? we are not talking about hard working families that have come through the legal process we are talking about sneaks that slither across our borders illegally. Once here have children that become legal citizens and the drain on our economy continues. All criminals are hard working, hard working cannot be the excuse. - ChampaignDweller - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 2:32 pm: Illegal immigration and open borders are causing all sorts of problems, not the least of which is the security issue. About half of the people arrested today for a plot to attack soldiers at Fort Dix were illegal Albanian immigrants. The other important thing to remember is if we legalize 12 million or 20 million people, or whatever the number is, they are eligible for all sorts of things, including Social Security, which is almost broke. In a perfect world this wouldn’t be an issue because there would be money to pay for all of these things. Right now, there’s insufficient funds to pay for what the government has promised legal residents. - fed up - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 2:36 pm: I noticed in the news it hasnt been reported that it was an illeagalimmigrant that killed the chicago traffic control aid. So a mother trying to provide for her kids is killed by a criminal who doesnt respect any laws but we will skip that part of the story, same news cast tells how a chicago cop is on trial for a hit and run accident that killed a child. Both tragedies but no mention of the fact that one driver was an illeagal driving with no licencse but its important to know the other driveris a cop. Plus how can you say these people are paying our social security one of the ways they get around immigration laws besides buying fake IDS at Ald. Munoz fathers store is cash jobs no social security taxes no medicare taxes no unemployment taxes no federal taxes no state taxes no chicago head tax and if they get hurt or sick just go to the ER where you can run up as big as bill as you want because the TAXPAYERS get stuck with it. Guess how many murderers are sought but have fled to mexico which refuses to cooperate with US law enforcment. over 7,600 at last count and that was fall of 05. guess what percentage of the prison population is illeagal and our taxes are paying for 13% JAN 06 and those are criminal offenses not immigration violations. Yes most are law abiding and just here to work but many many are here to take advantage of services we pay tax dollars for and these services are being overrun by illeagal immigrants who are not a boon to the ecoomy but a drag on it. cash under the table jobs hurt the economy, hiring an illeagal for a lower wage hurts the economy, building new schools for illeagals children costs money hospital emergency rooms our overwhelmed with illeagals that will never pay a bill and translating everything into spanish polish chinise or any other language cost a lot of tax dollars for local state and federal goverments - Slice & Dice - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 2:41 pm: Cassandra and Just Saying make good sense I think. But then I’m not the sharpest tack in the box — will someone enlighten me please, why do non-citizens here illegally need a drivers license? Is it way of tracking them? If so, why would they bother to apply if it means they are identified? Thanks - cermak_rd - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 3:48 pm: Mr Schnorf, No I don’t have a long memory in regards to Berwyn & Cicero, I’ve only lived here for a few years and before that lived on the West side. But I have noticed people in this region being comfortable with each other these past few years, accepting both the Halal market and the supermercado as company for the Czech butchers. Maybe it just requires the bigots to move first, before decent relations can exist. - Citizen - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 4:03 pm: Why is it the leftists say anyone who dosen’t think as he does is a bigot. I do not hear hate I hear injustice and special favors, let’s have equality. The law is what it is and criminals, even nice ones need to follow the law. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 4:13 pm: why is it bigoted to expect immigration laws to be followed?? or are some people just using racism as an excuse for having no way to defend illeagal immigrants criminal behavior. If you dont get your way it must be racism. - Way Northsider - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 5:50 pm: Those against immigrants should examine their own family histories with blinders off. Chances are their ancestors came from other countries when there were no limits or quotas for people coming from Europe. Chances are also really good that these same anccestors did not learn to speak English if they came from a non English speaking country. It is the next generation that learned English. The current discussion about illegal immigrants is racist pure and simple. There are plenty of illegal immigrants from the former Soviet Union and other “white” countries. No one is railing against them. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 5:54 pm: fed up almost got the point of the whole debate ver driver’s licenses. The whole point is so that they can meet the state’s requirement to be insured. The legislation before Illinois right now no more condones illegal immigration than teaching kids about birth control condones premarital sex. Both recognize an immutable reality and attempt to deal with the consequences. One of the consequences of U.S. immigration policy is that we have alot of folks in this country driving to and from work every day — and wherever else — that cannot legally obtain a driver’s license, and therefore cannot legally obtain insurance. So, when they hit you, you’re screwed. Accidents happen — its why people have insurance — and I’d much rather the guy in the other car have insurance when it does. Period. - Truthful James - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 6:17 pm: This is really a race issue, but not in the way that you think. The people being hurt by illegal aliens are our black (and white) citizens who are becoming a permanent underclass. When that happens, this country will have an increasing anchor against growth and development. The whole point about immigration quotas is to set the number — in various categories — which will maximize prosperity for all Americans including the legal immigrants. We have spent decades trying to adjust welfare and workfare and now it is going down the drain. We can not treat our citizens this way. - Citizen - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 7:01 pm: Stop saying people are against immigration, that is a lie. We are against breaking the law. We are at war, no body should be crossing the border without possibly being shot by our Border patrol or National Guard.We are against criminals, Law breakers, do you get it. We favor LEGAL immigration. Those deported need to go to the end of the line and the people abiding by the laws of this land come in first, they get the jobs and respect. The illegals get to look over the fence.. - Just Saying - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 8:13 pm: Slice & Dice, I think YDD hit the nail on the head. For illegal immigrants, getting a driver’s license allows them to drive to work, pick up the kids, get into bars, etc. the same way it does for the rest of us. Now, is it a reward? I guess you could look at it that way, except that society as a whole benefits. We know who they are. So do the cops. They can buy insurance. They are less afraid to talk to law enforcement, which makes them better residents and, perhaps, one day, citizens. But think about it: So many of these immigrants are willing to get licenses, to work at undesirable jobs and to pay taxes (including Social Security) with NO hope of getting most of the benefits of other taxpayers and, by doing so, to risk deportation, just to fit into American society. And THESE are the people we want to punish? Please. Yes, “fed up,” some illegal immigrants get paid in cash. But the vast majority get employment with bogus social security numbers. I admit they commit a crime just to get work. But what’s the consequence? We accept their Social Security taxes without complaint. In fact, the extra $1 billion a year is one of the few things helping social security stay solvent. So, if you accept YOUR social security check, thank an illegal immigrant who paid in but never got anything out. And, hey, we’ll accept them in the armed forces even as we try to deport their families. And as far as other public benefits, illegal immigrants (and legal ones here less than five years in most states) don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare. So when illegal immigration comes up in a policy setting, I’m often reminded of the flight chief in Apollo 13 who tells his harried staff: “Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.” - Bridget Dooley - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 9:49 pm: The thing I hate the most about the GOP-invented immigrant-baiting “debate” is the pure meanspiritedness of it all. I think these people who spew such hate against immigrants should spend some time in Mexican ghettos and see how quickly they feel like crossing our border. - Citizen - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 10:14 pm: Yoy just don’t get. This in not about race it is about the law. Thi is the greatest Nation in the world. That does not mean our borders are open. What about those that are being killed in and want out of their own countries. With illegals jumping the line (to not be mean spirited, what ever that means). The law is the law. If it isn’t then it is okay to do anything and no jails. Either we live by the law or we die by it. - elginite - Tuesday, May 8, 07 @ 11:06 pm: The press in Kane County is no press at all. They take any story they get and spin it into an editorial page. Looks like they want to take the opposition to illegal immigration look like idiots. They wouldn’t take an African American racial debate and relay it the same way. There is a good deal of illegal voting out there. The press in Kane County is a joke and the public is becoming very aware of it. - The Conservative - Wednesday, May 9, 07 @ 12:00 am: Hampshire first, Carpentersvill next and hopefully Elgin will follow. - RickMonday - Wednesday, May 9, 07 @ 7:58 am: Ok, once we have the photographs, fingerprints, and addresses of these illegals, why dont we just send the list to ICE so that they can round these illegals up and ship them back to Mexico? - Truthful James - Wednesday, May 9, 07 @ 8:03 am: Bridget – One can empathize with the fact that they ‘feel like’ crossing the borders. That doesn’t mean that they can be allowed do so illegally. Stop using the word ‘ghettos’, by the way, that is a loaded word to obtain sympathy. You sound as if you have been brainwashed by the RC Church attempting to find more converts here, instead of sending fighting priests to Mexico like the Jesuits of old. Closing the borders and opportunities for employment in America is the only way by whih the government of Mexico can be forced to change its economic policies and permit the private sector to do its business. - Bridget Dooley - Wednesday, May 9, 07 @ 10:48 pm: What the hell else would you call a place like Juarez other than a ghetto?! Ever been there Mr. Have-no-sympathy-for-non-uh-mrr-uh-kins? The difference between you and I is that I believe that the U.S. has a certain responsibility to Mexico. What do you have to say about NAFTA, huh? Unfair trade policy hasn’t only been bad for the U.S. you know. - Truthful James - Thursday, May 10, 07 @ 7:35 am: Bridget Temper, temper. Warsaw had a ghetto. Throughout eastern Europe, Jews, a registered minority, were required to live in a certain area and were register and required to live there, with free movement only to and from work. Liberals have appropriated that word for their own purposes as an emotional appeal. It is not class constrained but race or religion constrained that makes a ghetto. The people in in the lower classes generally in Juarez and the rest of the Mexican cities have freedom of movement to seek opportunity elsewhere in Mexico. Your anger should be directed at the Mexican political structure which, like the Chicago bosses keep people in place for their own reasons. Why does the United States have any responsibility to Mexico? What guilt trip are you on? Any U.S. responsibility to Mexico sits behind that to our own citizens and providing them the hope which accompanies the American dream. We have a legal and political system which defines the nuimber and type of visas which will not crowd our own people out. Let’s stick to it. Sure, that means that, in the absence of illegal aliens, wages will have to rise to attract citizens to work. That is a good thing. NAFTA was designed, among other things, to encourage U.S. and Canadian investment to go to Mexico. That is a good thing. If the same investment which we sent to the PRC and to India had gone to Mexico, we wouldn’t be arguing. Mexican restrictions on foreign investment, the governmental corruption, the refusal to reform its education system, made their country less attractive. I have been much further into the country than Juarez or the border cities. Want to compare locations? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.