Immigration...

This really seems to be a tough issue. I want to take the side of the illegals but there is always information that will suggest that maybe we can't afford to have them here. Sometimes when we hear argument against illegals we might hear about them committing crimes in the country (or indeed posing a risk to national security) or they might be taking advantages of our social services. Either way we really have to think about this issue.

That being said every now and then you might hear about city policies that seem to protect illegal immigrants from immigration authorities like an ordinance just passed the Chicago city council. There was an executive order from a decade ago with Mayor Harold Washington...

In March 1985, Mayor Harold Washington signed an executive order forbidding city cooperation in random questioning about a person's citizenship at city buildings and barring review of city files without subpoenas or questioning city job applicants about citizenship.

Well recently the city council has made this executive order into law, making Mayor Daley's 1989 executive order into law. This executive order states...

"No agent or agency shall request information about or otherwise investigate or assist in the investigation of citizenship or residency status of any person unless such an inquiry or investigation is required by statute, ordinance, federal regulation or court decision."

Apparently there is a Chicago precedent for violating federal law according to a Chicago Sun-Times article in this case in opposition to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act...

Led by then-Mayor James Curtis and Ald. Amos Throop, for whom a Chicago street is named, the City Council ordered Chicago Police officers not to enforce the act.

This activity is in response to the bill being debated in the Senate with the idea of tightening border security and at the same time enabling illegal immigrants to become citizens.

Oh yeah they mention a rally for illegal immigrant that took place in Chicago earlier this month. I'm sure there was nothing but mainstream new coverage but I just want to show a citizen's coverage of this event. Courtesy of LimeBlog.

Link
City takes stand against immigration bill from Chicago Sun-Times