Peril to Citizens Cited; 88 Caught in Controversial Raids : INS Seizing Chicago’s Illegal Alien Cab Drivers

The federal government has had it with some of the Windy City’s more colorful cab drivers, a number of whom have arrived here so recently that they cannot tell Wrigley Field from Marshall Field’s.

“They provide poor service, put citizens in threatening situations . . . do not speak English, do not know the city, do not want to learn the city, take people to wrong addresses,” complains A. D. Moyer, Immigration and Naturalization Service district director. “They overcharge, and they’re taking jobs from Americans.”

Weekly Raids Vowed

Moyer’s solution is simple but controversial: He vows to make weekly raids until an estimated 700 to 1,000 illegal-alien taxi drivers are rounded up.

In one raid this week--the second in a month--INS agents arrested 48 taxi drivers at O’Hare International Airport and major downtown hotels. They were charged with a variety of immigration violations, as were 129 drivers picked up in a sweep of cab stands Dec. 17. The two raids netted 88 who were found to be in the United States illegally, including eight found to be fugitives, federal officials said.

Moyer’s description of the perils of riding in some of the 11,000 taxis here bears a striking resemblance to an account of a harrowing trip from O’Hare Airport by an unnamed immigration official that was featured in a Chicago Tribune column by Mike Royko. The column described a ride in which a cab driver excitedly complained about taking the rider a relatively short distance from the airport, drove in an erratic manner and cursed his passenger the entire time.

“I suspect that when some illegal (alien) starts threatening to kill an immigration official, a roundup can not be far behind,” Royko wrote.

Moyer himself may have some special expertise on the subject. “I’ve had so many (bad experiences) I can’t count them,” he told The Times, “both as a passenger and as a pedestrian.”

‘Personal Vendetta’

“It’s a personal vendetta,” charged Jeffrey M. Feldman, president of Yellow Cab Co. “This is a big public relations thing on (Moyer’s) part. I think there are better ways for his department to police illegal aliens than to disrupt the taxi industry.”

Feldman calls the raids “indiscriminate searches and seizures” and accuses the government of questioning drivers “based on racial characteristics.”

Chicago officials say they log about 170 complaints about taxi service or drivers a week, but in the last two years they have taken away the licenses of only two drivers. That is far below disciplinary actions reported in other cities.

Most of those arrested in the raids have been from Middle Eastern, African and South Asian countries, federal officials said. Only one has been Latino, though the Latino community is protesting this new government tactic.

ACLU Considers Campaign

The Illinois branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is considering an educational campaign telling both citizens and non-citizens what their rights are in such raids.

But the raids are also drawing some cheers.

Royko has had only one “complaint about the raids.”

“They are such a rare happening. They should repeat it about once a week,” he wrote.

Moyer thinks that is a fine idea.