Across the nation, roughly 11 million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadow of a complex debate over their futures.

With no explicit rights and no guarantees of success, nearly 500,000 undocumented immigrants have carved out a niche in Illinois alone, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center. The PHC says 56 percent of unauthorized migrants are from Mexico.

No official numbers exist to gauge the population of illegal immigrants in the city of DeKalb. The most recent estimate is from the 2000 census, which found the number of “foreign-born persons” at just over 9 percent, but this purports to count all immigrants, documented or not.

A census document from the DeKalb Web site says, “ ... the Hispanic population in DeKalb also more than doubled from 1990 to 2000, totaling 3,527. However, this number is historically undercounted due to language barriers and mistrust of our federal government, despite assurances their information will not be made available to any other governmental entity.”

“We don’t keep numbers on them,” said City Attorney Norma Guess.

She questioned how the city would be able to keep such numbers.

Guess said DeKalb has no explicit laws dealing with illegal immigrants. The city does have a Human Rights Commission meant to combat discrimination, but it is not specific to undocumented immigrants, Guess said.

Chapter 49 of the DeKalb Municipal Code prohibits “discrimination based on race, creed, color, gender, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, matriculation [school enrollment], or sexual orientation”.

Some U.S. cities, such as New York City, have passed laws to protect illegal immigrants from being identified and reported by city workers. Other cities, such as Hazleton, Penn., have passed laws mandating city documents be in English only and authorizing fines for hiring or renting to undocumented immigrants.

Catherine Salgado of the The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights says illegal immigrants face many hardships. Language skills are the biggest barrier, according to Salgado.

“Many undocumented immigrants work two or three jobs to sustain themselves,” Salgado said. “That doesn’t leave much time for learning English.”

She said they also face low wages with no work rights.

“If they complain, they are threatened with calling [Immigration & Naturalization Services],” Salgado said. “That is a huge wall between them and society.”

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