GANGBANGERS ORDERED TO MOVE OUT OF TOWN

CICERO -- As Cicero officials approved two bold measures aimed at
driving gang members out of their town, they braced to defend their
efforts to forge new legal ground against a barrage of critics who
questioned the constitutionality of the effort.

"Cicero stands alone in its battle against gangs," acknowledged Cicero
Town Atty. Barry Pechter, following a spirited town meeting during
which the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the anti-gang measures.

For her part, Town President Betty Loren-Maltese spoke defiantly at
the meeting Tuesday. "If this is unconstitutional, then somebody ought
to look at the Constitution," she declared.

But legal scholars were befuddled by the town's approach. And some
residents said they were concerned the measure would prompt police to
target Latinos.

While the ordinances are clear in their intent--individuals shown to
be gang members through a "preponderance of the evidence" can be
ordered out of town--details of just how the laws will work and be
enforced remained a bit fuzzy.

The ordinances provide suspected gang members some due
process--they'll get to appear before hearing officers with an
attorney to argue their case. If they defy the town's orders to move,
they can face fines of up to $500 a day.

Cicero officials said they plan to follow up these ordinances within
the next week by filing a $10 million lawsuit against more than 100
alleged gang members the town claims have violated the rights of
residents. Loren-Maltese also said the town plans to erect gates in
the most gang-infested areas to help keep evicted gangsters from
re-entering the town.

Loren-Maltese said Cicero resorted to extreme measures because
"there's a lot of people in this town who are petrified."

Jay A. Miller, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Illinois, said the ordinances are "clearly unconstitutional"
because they charge somebody for their status--being a member of a
gang--not a crime. Miller also said the state constitution doesn't
allow for banishing a group.

"There's just so many things in it that are questionable,' said
Miller, who seemed more amused than threatened by the ordinances.

Several law school professors also said they didn't think the measures
would hold up in court.

"Have you heard of any lawyer that didn't laugh at this?" asked Daniel
Polsby, a professor at the Northwestern University School of Law.
"There's absolutely nothing about this that seems to fit with anything
I know. . . . I wouldn't be surprised if . . . Cicero was itself a
gang by the definition of its own ordinance."

Other municipalities, including San Diego, San Jose and Chicago, have
approved laws aimed at curbing gang problems, though their measures
haven't gone as far as the Cicero ordinance. Instead they have
prohibited gang members from gathering in certain places such as
street corners. A legal challenge to Chicago's ordinance is before the
U.S. Supreme Court.

Legal experts said they've never heard of anything as far reaching as
the Cicero measures.

"The form of exile we use here is prison," said Larry Alexander, a
professor at the University of San Diego School of Law. "Undesirables
may not just be kicked out of a place."

Pechter, the town attorney, said he wrote a number of "safeguards"
into the ordinances.

"We believe it will stand up to any constitutional test," Pechter
said.

Under one ordinance, the police chief will identify gang members and
pass the information along to the town attorney. A hearing will then
determine if the person is a gang member who poses "a clear and
present danger" to the community.

A second ordinance approved Tuesday allows the town to seize the cars
of evicted gang members if they return to Cicero.

But Dolores Ponce de Leon, a community organizer with the Interfaith
Leadership Project of Cicero, Berwyn and Stickney, said she fears the
measures unfairly target Latinos.

Pechter estimated of the 600 gang members identified by the town,
about 75 percent are Latino.

"It's raising a lot of confusion," said Ponce de Leon, who explained
that some Cicero parents think their children may be kicked out of
town because of what they wear or if they fall in with a bad crowd.