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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Local Immigration Action: Baldwin Park, CA and Waukegan, ILL

By immigrationprof

Immigration continues to spur controversy in cities across the country.

On Monday, the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund obtained a federal court order blocking the City of Baldwin Park’s day laborer ordinance. The order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Rafeedie prohibits the City of Baldwin Park from enforcing Ordinance 1302, which, among other restrictions, prohibits day laborers from seeking work on public sidewalks unless they leave a three-foot space to allow for pedestrians.  The judge found that plaintiffs Jornaleros Unidos de Baldwin Park and the National Day Labor Organizing Network represented by MALDEF had demonstrated a probability that the ordinance, if allowed to go into effect, would severely and irreparably harm their First Amendment free speech rights. The Preliminary Injunction issued by Judge Rafeedie will remain in effect pending a full trial on the merits of constitutionality of Baldwin Park’s anti-solicitation ordinance.   For more on this story, click here.

Waukegan, now 70% Latino, has become a major flashpoint for anti-immigrant activities in Illinois. On Monday, thousands of people protested a program that would allow local police to initiate deportation proceedings for immigrants convicted of serious crimes.  However, the City Council declined by a 7-2 vote to reconsider its decision to apply for the federal program.  According to the Chicago Tribune (here), Latino activists were angered by the decision but heartened that they had gotten their message out and drawn a crowd to the Chicago suburbs. “This is ground zero for us,” said Ramon Becerra, regional head of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. He said the techniques his organization used in Waukegan—getting information out quickly on Spanish language radio stations, chartering buses, distributing flyers to pro-Latino businesses and threatening a boycott of others—are templates for his group and others to make their voices heard when they feel local officials aren’t listening. About 3,000 people attended the 5 p.m. rally outside City Hall. Chartered buses came from Chicago, Elgin, Wheeling and Cicero. On Monday morning, outraged callers flooded two Chicago-based Spanish radio shows.

KJ