Unprintable, I guess

I received this letter from the City of Elgin Hispanic Outreach Coordinator:

And I sent a copy of this letter to the City to the Courier for possible publication in Valley Views on December 2nd but they haven't printed it yet:

Dear Mr. Folarin:

I understand that your Community Outreach Coordinator is making presentations to immigrant groups about their rights and responsibilities. Others have done an excellent job articulating the rights of immigrants.

Our organization, the Association for Legal Americans, is very concerned about assimilation here in Elgin. We consider the lack of assimilation to be a major source of friction in our community. As an immigrant yourself I’m sure you can relate to what may seem like trivial or perhaps odd cultural norms. At the same time you realize how important it is to blend in with the neighbors.

May we offer the following suggestions as part of Elgin’s presentation on responsibilities:

1) You are expected to be financially responsible and support yourself and your family. This includes carrying health insurance and automobile insurance. It also includes saving for your retirement.
2) If you are involved in an automobile accident you must not leave the scene. Remain at the scene of the accident, make sure medical needs are attended to, and contact the police. Do not leave until instructed to do so by a police officer.
3) You must have proper authorization to work in the United States. People here on tourist visas are NOT permitted to work.
4) You must not use fraudulent documents under any circumstances.
5) It is against the law to work for cash. You must declare your wages to the government and have taxes withheld from your pay. This is for your protection and benefit.
6) If you are here without a green card or work visa you must take your family and return to your home country. As a government agency the City of Elgin can only advise you to leave the country if you are undocumented.
7) There are many programs, some are free-of-charge, where you can learn English. When out in public it is considered rude to speak your native tongue around those who do not understand you.
8) Housing customs here may be different than in your home country. Most homes and apartments should be limited to you, your spouse, and your own children. These homes were designed for one family and one or two cars. Do not exceed the housing capacity or allow multiple families to live in your home.
9) Parking is only allowed in the garage, driveway, and (in some cases) the street in front of your house. Do NOT park across the sidewalk, on the lawn, in front of someone else’s house, or on the patio.
10) You are expected to maintain the appearance of your home. You should mow the lawn regularly, trim bushes and remove weeds. You should rake the fallen leaves. Snow and ice should be removed from the sidewalks. Peeling paint and clogged/sagging rain gutters should also be repaired.
11) Playing loud music in your car or home is considered rude. If your neighbor can hear your music it is too loud. Please respect the privacy of others by keeping the volume low. If you are having an outdoor party it is wise to turn off the music at dark.
12) The city has ordinances that prohibit major car repairs on the street or in your driveway.
13) About pets. Elgin is not zoned for farm animals. Exotic animals are strictly controlled as well.
14) We are allowed 3 dogs, which are to be properly confined indoors or out. They are to be on leashes when not confined. They should have proper identification, meaning tags or a microchip. Rabies shots must be up-to-date. If an animal is found on the run the animal control officer will be called and the dog removed to the pound. A fee will be charged to release the animal.
15) All dogs bark sometimes. However, a lengthy time of this disturbance is also a noise nuisance, which will be handled by the police department. The dogs should also be spayed or neutered if not for breeding purposes.
16) Cats should be kept indoors and should be spayed or neutered unless they are to be used for breeding.
17) Drinking and driving are against the law and very dangerous. Do not attempt to drive after you have had more than two drinks. Call a cab or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
18) You must have a license to drive in Illinois. Do not risk driving without one.
19) Spouse abuse is a serious crime in the United States. This includes not only physical abuse but also emotional and sexual forms.
20) Although littering may be acceptable in your home country it is NOT allowed in the United States. If public trash cans are not available, carry your litter home and throw it away. Do not throw litter from your car or drop it in the street.
21) It is NEVER appropriate to urinate or defecate in public.
22) Children should not be allowed to wander free in malls or stores. You should be in constant visual contact with them at all times. They should not be allowed to run, yell, play with merchandise, or otherwise disturb other customers in the stores.
23) As children approach the teen years be especially careful of their friends and activities. If you have reason to believe your child has joined a gang, contact the police or your child’s school for advice.
24) Education is the key to success. Your child will be expected to graduate from high school. Encourage them to stay in school. Work with the teachers to make sure they succeed academically.
Sincerely,
Doug Heaton
President, Association for Legal Americans

Folarin’s response:

Thank you for the suggestions. We have forwarded your e-mail to our Community Outreach Coordinator for incorporation into her presentation.

Sounds good to me!

In the post below is the transcript of Womack's presentation to the City Council.
And it was covered in the Courier News and the Daily Herald today.
Sounds good, right? WRONG!
We have the results of first 195 people screened (March through September) and it reveals some gaping holes in the screening process. That number has grown to 253 according to the chief.

Here's the problem with the screening/pick-ups by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):
1) 68 of those 195 had been previously deported and, according to ICE Secure Communities Program they want to get those repeat offenders off the street and into court to prosecute them for coming back. Yet they were all set free by Elgin PD.
2) Five of those 195 had outstanding ICE warrants, otherwise known as fugitives who defied deportation orders. (There are nearly 600,000 illegal aliens on that list alone.)
3) Valentin Sierra-Martinez was picked up and screened by Elgin in April and in June and put back on the street. TWO chances to figure out he was a gang member and a felon and they blew it. ICE finally picked up Valentin themselves on July 18th.

The list of 195 is filled with people picked up for DUI, drug charges, and domestic abuse and yet the city leaders are content to just let them slide without a whimper. They say ICE won't take them because they don't fit the "criteria" for immediate notification.

We've been talking with the city council until we are blue in the face and they just don't get it that when they don't demand more from ICE they are telling the citizens that they just don't care what we think.

*They don't care that the guy headed the other way on the road is drunk, has no license AND doesn't belong in the United States.
*They don't care that these same 195 are the ones who are getting paid in cash (tax evasion) or are running up back taxes on someone else's Social Security Number.
*They don't care that every year these 195 are siring anchor babies that WE have to pay for.

The reality is that if AFLA hadn't forced them into it they'd still be skipping down the garden path ignoring this problem in the name of special interests.

City Council Presentation

Transcript of Police Chief Lisa Womack presentation on illegal alien initiatives
December 17, 2008, Elgin City Council 6:30 pm

Womack: We’ve always had a system in place that would allow for us to work closely with ICE on certain illegal aliens that met certain criteria. That criteria is any illegal aliens, criminal aliens who were arrested for felonies, drug-related, gang-related, or sex-related crimes.

Then the process that we have been engaged with ICE in for a good number of years is approaching 20 years. That process is still in place.

So I’m going to discuss what we’ve done since January. In March we met with representatives of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the Chicago office to discuss reporting criteria as it related to the IAQ, the Immigration Alien Query system that we would begin doing as of March 1st.

Effective March 1st all foreign-born arrestees booked by members of our agency are screened through the IAQ system. In a nutshell the arresting officers ask for a query on our arrestees through our communications division and as the information is returned it is relayed to our jail commanders.

As we were discussing this with ICE the reporting criteria was established as follows:
All arrestees that met the already established criteria of felonies, sex-crimes, gang-related, drug-related crimes…would be immediately forwarded and ICE would be notified at that time.

Any additional arrestees that did not fall in that criteria but through the IAQ query had such things as a deportation warrant or hold already placed in the system would also be immediately notified.

All other arrestees would be forwarded to ICE through the CAP Officer assigned to the Kane County Jail on a monthly basis.

There was conversation on the frequency of the reports. It was at the request on ICE that they be reported on a monthly basis unless they met the immediate reporting criteria.

Since January that’s exactly what we do. While we continue the immediate reporting criteria which we have always done, since March 1st we have made queries on 1,259 foreign-born arrestees; 253 of those individuals that have been screened have been identified in our country illegally; 20 of that 253 met the criteria for immediate reporting and we are currently actively involved with ICE on the court process, the adjudication process, or are actively involved in the deportation proceedings.

The other 233 met the criteria for the monthly reporting, have been reported to ICE, and they have followed the appropriate legal processes here in our city.

ICE ACCESS. We made application as you said, as Mr. Cogley said, in January for ICE ACCESS. We had that same discussion during our March meeting with regard to ICE ACCESS.

If you look at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, ICE website it describes all the various program that are available under ICE ACCESS. All of those programs are not available to every law enforcement agency across the nation. At the March meeting there was a request from me to ICE to provide us with a summary of those available programs under the ACCESS umbrella to the Elgin Police Department. To date I have not received that information.

We have followed up on our application with ICE on the ACCESS program. We have been told that the request for a Memorandum of Understanding and the report that I requested and the information requested, has been forwarded to their Washington office.

All information and authorizations for that must come through their Washington office.
And we have since been informed that the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned as of a month ago. There is an acting Director and no further decisions will be made until the new administration takes office after the first of the year.

That is the current status of the ICE ACCESS program.

We continue to do what we have been doing for a very long time. We have a very good working relationship with local ICE on the specific criteria as they have outlined. We do participate in several task forces that have an ICE component.

As of yesterday we made several arrests that you may have read about in the paper that also had an ICE component attached to that. So we continue our task force involvement with our federal partners, FBI and ICE as well as continue to forward the information, actively pursue the situations as we can.

Questions from the City Council
(Inaudible.
Something about the ICE staffing level and their ability to respond to the need. Some discussion about the ICE reporting criteria.
Cogley talks about criteria for ICE involvement. Inaudible.
About holding for 24 hours and bonding out. Cap officers at county)

Womack: Our authority to hold is exactly the same as any other arrested person. We can hold them under the laws that they were arrested for here. To answer your question very simply, someone who is arrested for the reporting criteria we immediately notify ICE. We notify an existing agent that we work with as well as the CAP officer at the Kane County Jail.

At that point it is the responsibility of ICE to put a further hold. If there is a bonding process available for this arrestee without the hold, then it is ICE responsibility to put the hold so that they will not be able to bond out. So our responsibility ends at the point where we make the notification, make sure they have the information, and it becomes the responsibility of ICE to place the hold so that they cannot bond out of jail.

Council: (Inaudible Cook County question)

Womack: Cook County also has a CAP officer. We do the same. We don’t have as many reportings that we report to as many arrestees on the Cook County side. But Cook County obviously with the size of the jail that it is, yes, they have several CAP officers that are assigned there with the same processing system.

(Sorry for the problem picking up questions from the city council. They weren't using the microphones. Same for Mr. Cogley (City Attorney) comments made and answers given at the end of Womack's presentation.)

More on SEIU

After reading our write-up below about the SEIU, a good AFLA friend sent us this flier. It was being passed around INSIDE Larkin High by SEIU organizers; not teachers, not students...SEIU rabble-rousers. (Aren't you glad the Larkin kids are getting a good liberal education?)

And just look at the contact name at the bottom. Mr. Fabela himself.

Ya' gotta start teaching 'em when they are young.

And yes, the reverse side is in Spanish.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

The Elgin City Council will be hearing a report from Police Chief Womack on WEDNESDAY at 6:30 pm at City Hall, 150 Dexter Court.
The topic? The Illegal Alien Intiatives the city agreed to back in January.
We hope to see you there.

About the SEIU

We’ve noticed that the SEIU was negotiating with Governor Blagojevich for the Obama senate seat. They were part of a three-way scheme to find a lucrative position for Blago in exchange for the senate seat for “Candidate 1”.

So, what do we know about the SEIU?

SEIU stands for Service Employees International Union.

About 1.5 million (some say two million) workers pay dues to the SEIU. They are the largest and fastest-growing AFL-CIO segment.

This is what they say about their own political clout: “Record contributions by SEIU members make SEIU’s political action fund the largest in the country.”
http://www.walkadayinmyshoes2008.com/building-seius-political-stren/

SEIU gave over $2 MILLION to federal office candidates in 2008.
Here are the top recipients:
Top Recipients
Senate Obama, Barack $36,908
House Foster, Bill $20,000
House Edwards, Donna $17,300
House Richardson, Laura $15,000
House Hastings, Alcee L $13,400
House Cazayoux, Donald J $12,500
Senate Rockefeller, Jay $12,300
House Feder, Judith $11,000
House Pelosi, Nancy $10,650

In addition, here are the donations from SEIU over the last four years:
Noland $9,334
Gilliam $5,847
Schock $5,000
Figueroa $4,238
Walters $2,869
Perez $1,200

Note that THREE of the five labor unions the City of Elgin deals with are SEIU. They are:
SEIU Public Works
SEIU Clerical Technical
SEIU Part Time Custodians


SEIUs stand on illegal aliens has been removed from their website, but here is the text of their position as expressed to the Senate in January of 2007:
"Hard working, tax-paying immigrants who are living in this country should be given every opportunity to come forward, pay a fine, and earn legal status and a path toward citizenship. Successful reform mandates the most expansive earned legalization provisions that would make eligible the largest number of undocumented persons... The benefits of an expansive legalization program are clear: employer compliance with withholding requirements is best achieved by the highest level of participation in the legalization programs; people will come out of the shadows and be able to work at higher paying and more secure jobs; and families will be reunited."
"Text of Letter to Senator Kennedy from SEIU Leaders - SEIU Announces Agenda for Comprehensive Immigration Reform," www.seiu.org, Jan. 17, 2007


In the Blago complaint there are references to a group called “Change to Win.” Change to Win is the brainchild of SEIU President Andy Stern. Their stated objectives parallel Obama’s plan for American workers.
+ A paycheck that supports a family
+ Universal health care
+ A secure retirement
+ The freedom to form a union to give workers a voice on the job
From Change to Win Website: http://www.changetowin.org/about-us/mission.html

If press reports are correct we will see the last of those agenda items passed early in the new congress. It is also the most important one for the unions.

The “freedom to form a union” initiative means the elimination of the secret ballot for unionization. Obama supports it. Not very democratic, but with millions of dollars of PAC money at stake it is the least they can do for the brotherhood.

The Blago Three Way Deal
Now, let’s understand the “Three Way” strategy. It was nicely documented in the Blagojevich scandal. The SEIU became the go-between with the governor. Blago wanted a paid position at Change to Win, something that pays big. For him or for Patti. It really doesn’t matter.

The SEIU goes back to “Senate Candidate X” and works out the details. Remember, the SEIU by their own admission has the largest political action fund in the country. It is also important to remember that for Patrick Fitzgerald “wrongdoing” means that the other party agreed with Blago to provide something of value in exchange for the senate seat. It does NOT mean the SEIU is innocent, it just means they didn’t close the deal. One thing is for sure, the SEUI didn’t hang up on Blago the minute he started talking pay to play.

Another Blago Three Way Deal that went unnoticed
Here’s another Three Way. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights was given free reign to write Blago’s New Americans program. Created by Executive Order (no legislative votes needed) it provides benefits for new immigrants to Illinois.

The only trouble is that it SPECIFICALLY INCLUDES illegal aliens in the program, contrary to federal law. And Joseph Geevarghese (an SEIU executive) was the TREASURER for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights back when Blago signed the law.

Even today the board at ICIRR includes an SEIU member, David (Dino) Martino Political Director for SEIU Local 1. Now, the SEIU was top contributor to Blago in the 2006 election, giving him almost a MILLION DOLLARS, nearly 5% of all the money he received.

Link:
http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=79667

And note what Fred Tsao of ICIRR said when he heard Blago had been arrested: “He’s undertaken quite a number of initiatives designed to benefit immigrants in our state,” says Fred Tsao, policy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “Being the son of a Serbian immigrant himself, he definitely understood immigration on a very deep and personal level.” (from WBEZ news report 12/12/08)

An Elgin Three Way?
Now, the makings of an Elgin Three Way. Keep an eye on Arnoldo Fabela. He’s an organizer on the SEIU full-time payroll. He’s organized May Day protest marches for illegals in Elgin as well as the long march from Chicago to Hastert’s office on Labor Day a couple of years ago. He’s also politically active in town as a SOAP officer and part of the Unity in the Community bunch.

To add to the fun, ICIRR has assigned one of their employees, Ashley Moy-Wooten, to advise SOAP on getting their way with Elgin leaders. SOAP might be able to deny (with a straight face) that they are pro-illegal alien but ICIRR and SEIU certainly cannot.

You’ve got known SEIU contributions to city council candidates along with SEIU union contracts with the city. And you’ve got a history of the SEIU advocating for illegal aliens. This is a Three Way deal just waiting to happen.

Benefits for "non-citizens"

Nobel Prize winner and economist Milton Friedman told Forbes magazine: “It’s just obvious that you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”

Translated for the rest of us, Friedman is saying that if you have significant government spending for social/welfare programs it is not a good idea to have high immigration quotas. I submit to you that in the United States today we have both. This is a key difference between now and the great migration of a hundred years ago.

In the past 50 years our government has spent huge amounts of money to fight poverty. And from the looks of things (particularly health care reform) that trend will continue.

It is only logical to conclude that it is NOT a good idea to continue to IMPORT the poor from other countries. At some point the have-nots will overwhelm the tax revenue and difficult choices will have to be made. Shall we pay unemployment to the citizens for a longer period of time or shall we extend that benefit to immigrants?

Shall we improve veterans’ benefits or provide health care for undocumented children?

And indeed we are seeing that scenario play out in Springfield (with the governor wielding the budget slashing knife) and in Washington (where the new White House staff is charged with determining what is waste and what is necessary).

So far non-citizens (as the census calls them) are doing rather well. Despite the welfare reform laws of 1996, which specifically addresses restricting benefits to non-citizens and the undocumented, we have been more than generous.

Some examples of our collective compassion:
Unemployment benefits are paid to any immigrant who can provide documentation of lawful presence. (One has to wonder if the documentation is legitimate.) Visit the Unemployment Office (IDES) in downtown Elgin and note the predominant language of benefit seekers.

Kids First free health coverage is available to illegal aliens, no questions asked. But the governor is unable to tell us how much the program is costing us.

Free public education in a language you can understand. The tab to U-46 last year was an estimated $70.8 MILLION.

Free English lessons. Elgin Community College now offers ESL classes to adults at no charge.

Free health care through the Emergency Rooms.

WIC and LINK programs. We’ve all watched people in the check-out line, three children in tow, unable to speak English and they pay with the blue LINK card.

The Illinois I-Loan home mortgage program proudly declares that they assist not only immigrants but illegal aliens as well. Immigration status is of no concern to them.

Now, the intent of our immigration policy is to screen people for self-sufficiency. The law is very clear that we are NOT to allow people to immigrate to the United States who will become a burden on society. How well is that screening working? Not well at all.

Well, the fact is that illegal alien influx has outpaced legal immigration every year since 1995. These people were not screened at all. Yet the principle means of identifying them (Social Security Cards and Green Cards) have both been compromised to the point where they are virtually meaningless.

And screening for those who have sought to come here legally has failed us when it comes to identifying future public burdens or reliable sponsorship.

A case in point is the census data from an April 2007 report:
Median household income
US Average: $48,201
Non-citizens: $39,497
People below the poverty line:
US Average: 12.3%
Non-citizens: 19.0%
People without health insurance coverage:
US Average: 15.8%
Non-citizens: 45.0%

How about Social Security SSI? Well, here’s the statistical report for non-citizens:
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_asr/2007/#top

Note that the percentage of people receiving SSI benefits who were non-citizens was 3.3% in 1982. In 2007 it was nearly three times higher at 9.0%. It had been as high as 12% prior to the welfare reform act.

The most egregious example is SSI for the elderly.
27.5% of all aged SSI recipients are non-citizens.

Surely it benefits immigrants who want to bring their aged parents here under the guise of family unification. We have better care facilities and it appears we are also subsidizing their bills. But as fragile as Social Security is, why would we allow them to do so?

Has our compassion gotten the best of us?


(Note: Non-citizens are presumable in the United States legally although the Census Bureau makes no attempt to determine immigration status. As for social service agencies, validating status is difficult to do. Some agencies don’t even try.)