Thread: Hazelton tones down illegal immigration law

Sorry for the biased article.

http://www.iht.com

US city tones down illegal immigration law that had drawn anger, lawsuit
The Associated Press

Published: September 8, 2006

HAZLETON, Pennsylvania The Hazelton City Council gave tentative approval Friday to an overhaul of an anti-illegal-immigration law considered to be one of the United States' toughest, hoping to put the measure on sounder legal footing.

Like the version it will replace if granted final approval Tuesday, the new ordinance punishes businesses that employ illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

The revisions, however, remove much of the burden that had been placed on businesses. They soften penalties, give landlords and businesses time to correct violations and make it the city's job, not the businesses', to check immigration status.

Since the council adopted the original law in July, many municipalities around the U.S. have approved or considered similar measures.

Last week, the city of 31,000 residents agreed not to enforce the original law after the American Civil Liberties Union and Hispanic groups sued in federal court to overturn it. In return, the plaintiffs agreed not to seek an injunction against the city.

Under the agreement, Hazleton must give the plaintiffs at least 20 days' notice before it begins enforcing the replacement law — enough time for the ACLU to head back into court to try to stop it.

It is not clear how many illegal immigrants live in Hazleton, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, but the city's Hispanic population has soared in recent years. Mayor Lou Barletta, who proposed the ordinance after two illegal immigrants were charged with shooting and killing a man, has said the new law has already spurred many illegal immigrants to leave the city.

This is sad news. It will empower the ACLU and the pro illegal groups that if you put enough pressure, we will cave

I've got a very dirty word for the ACLU but I can't say in on the board and I really-really want to. RRRRRRRRRRR

Dixie

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/15473760.htm

Posted on Fri, Sep. 08, 2006

Hazleton council approves revamped illegal immigration law

MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press

HAZLETON, Pa. - Seeking to put its groundbreaking crackdown on illegal immigrants on sounder legal footing, the City Council is scrapping the law it approved in July in favor of a dramatically overhauled ordinance that boosters say will have a better chance of withstanding a court battle.

Like the version it replaces, the new ordinance given tentative approval Friday punishes businesses that employ illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

But the new law goes about enforcement in a completely different way, putting the burden of verifying immigration status on the city, giving landlords and businesses time to correct violations before imposing sanctions, and softening penalties.

"Once this ordinance is enforced, landlords and the public will know that the people who are here have a legal right to be here," said Republican Mayor Lou Barletta, who has championed the law.

Hispanic activists said the replacement law is unconstitutional and vowed a court fight.

Last week, the city of 31,000 residents agreed not to enforce the original ordinance after the American Civil Liberties Union and Hispanic groups sued in federal court to overturn it. In return, the plaintiffs agreed not to seek an injunction against the city.

Under the agreement, Hazleton must give the plaintiffs at least 20 days notice before it begins enforcing the replacement law - enough time for the ACLU to head back into court to try to stop it.

It is not clear how many illegal immigrants live in Hazleton, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, but the city's Hispanic population has soared in recent years. Barletta proposed the ordinance after two illegal immigrants were charged with shooting and killing a man. He has said the new law has already spurred many illegal immigrants to leave the city.

Inspired by the Hazleton crackdown, many local governments in recent weeks have passed their own measures to restrict or punish illegal immigrants and those doing business with them.

At seven pages, Hazleton's new ordinance is far more complex than the three-page law it replaces. Under the latest version, the city would submit a person's "identity data" to the federal government for verification of immigration status. The old law was vague as to how immigration status would be checked, one of the ACLU's primary objections.

"It clarifies that the city is not determining any individual's immigration status" for itself, but using the federal government to do so, said one of the law's drafters, Michael Hethmon, general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, D.C.

But David Vaida, a civil rights lawyer who also sued the city, said the new ordinance has the same flaws as the old one.

"It is pre-empted by federal law. The United States has exclusive and sole jurisdiction over immigration," he told the council.

The measure gives businesses and landlords from three to five days to correct violations, after which penalties would be imposed. Companies would face the loss of their city business permit and landlords the loss of their city rental license, but licenses would be restored once compliance is verified.

The measure also compels businesses found to employ two or more illegal immigrants to enroll in the Basic Pilot Program, a Department of Homeland Security program that allows companies to check immigration status via the Internet.

The city's Code Enforcement Office would be responsible for enforcement by investigating complaints from city officials, businesses and residents.

The city has assembled a legal team to defend the law, including Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri law professor and immigration adviser under former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Witold J. Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, predicted that the law will exacerbate tensions in the city by encouraging neighbors to inform on one another.

"The neighbor and co-worker snitching system will almost certainly exacerbate the polarization in the community based on race, ethnicity and national origin," he said.

Barletta, however, said the law specifically forbids the city from investigating any complaint based solely on a person's ethnicity or race.

The council, which voted 4-1 Friday in favor of the ordinance, is expected to give final approval on Tuesday.

"This one is a lot better, a lot more legally sound," City Council President Joe Yannuzzi said. "There are some major changes that are really going to help us in litigation."

http://today.reuters.com

Town strengthens illegal immigration law
Fri Sep 8, 2006 8:10 PM ET


By Jon Hurdle

HAZLETON, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Officials in the Pennsylvania town of Hazleton on Friday strengthened a local law designed to drive illegal immigrants away in a bid to defend the measure against legal challenges.

Hazleton City Council passed a new version of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, an ordinance first passed in July that was already one of the toughest anti-illegal immigrant laws in the country. It has since been copied by other cities where illegal immigration is blamed for rising crime and overburdened social services.

The new law, approved by a vote of 4-1, increases pressure on local employers to avoid hiring illegal immigrants and raises fines for landlords who rent rooms to them.

Legal employees can now sue their employers for any work lost as a result of a business license being revoked because a company was found to have hired illegal immigrants.

The new law would also revoke a business license within three days of a violation being discovered. The previous statute would only have canceled a license at the time of renewal. Landlords will have to pay $250 a day for every illegal alien they are accommodating.

"This law is tougher in many ways," said Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta who led the campaign for the ordinance. He says the quality of life in the town of 31,000 has fallen because of an influx of illegal immigrants, mostly from Central America.

The new law is designed mainly to withstand legal challenges that Barletta said could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, have already filed suit against Hazleton.

David Vaida, an attorney representing opponents of the law, predicted at the council meeting that it would create a "climate of fear."

"I don't think that you want to live in a town where you are going to pit neighbor against neighbor," he said.

Hazleton's Hispanic population has reached about a third of the town's total in the last five years. An estimated 25 percent of immigrants are believed to be illegal.