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  1. #1

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    Hazleton PA To Hold Special Meeting Today

    http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news. ... 5154&rfi=6

    09/07/2006

    The city of Hazleton will hold a special meeting Friday afternoon to vote on a revised illegal immigration ordinance.

    Council will convene at 4:15 p.m. for the first reading of two ordinances that will take the place of an ordinance passed in July. Advocacy groups and local attorneys filed a lawsuit against the original ordinance - which aimed to punish those who employ or rent to illegal immigrants and make English the city's official language.

    The city, with the help of two national immigration law experts, has decided to split the official language provision off into a separate ordinance, while another ordinance still addresses punishment for landlords "harboring" illegal immigrants or businesses employing them.

    If the ordinances pass first reading, council will proceed with second and third readings at a 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday.

    Once a new ordinance is passed, the plaintiffs suing the city will be permitted to amend their lawsuit and file for an injunction, according to a legal agreement between lawyers from both sides.
    "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

  2. #2
    jennyc's Avatar
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    my city is proposing the same thing.

    http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/ar...articleID=4232

  3. #3
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jennyc
    my city is proposing the same thing.

    http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/ar...articleID=4232
    If you were not aware of it might want to check out this page we created on the forum devoted to Altoona's ordinance.

    http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=39371
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  4. #4
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news. ... 5154&rfi=6

    09/08/2006
    Hazleton council ready to consider revised ordinances
    BY WADE MALCOLM
    STAFF WRITER


    The City of Hazleton will vote on a revised illegal immigration ordinance at a special meeting this afternoon.

    Council will convene at 4:15 p.m. for the first reading of two ordinances that will take the place of an ordinance passed in July. Advocacy groups and local attorneys have filed a lawsuit opposing the ordinance, which sought to punish those who employ or rent to illegal immigrants and make English the city’s official language.

    The city, with the help of two national immigration law experts, has decided to split the official language provision off into a separate ordinance, while another ordinance still addresses punishment for landlords “harboring” illegal immigrants or businesses employing them.

    If the ordinances pass first reading, council will proceed with second and third readings at a 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday.

    Once a new ordinance passes, the plaintiffs will have the option to amend their lawsuit and file for an injunction to stop enforcement, according to a legal agreement between lawyers from both sides. That agreement, mediated by Federal Judge James M. Munley and filed in a Scranton court last week, states the city must wait 20 days after passage to begin enforcing a new ordinance.

    Lawyers for the plaintiffs said an injunction could likely be filed before those 20 days are up.

    Immigration law expert Kris Kobach and Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) attorney Michael Hethmon drafted Hazleton’s new ordinance. The differences between the new ordinance and those versions previously presented to city council are significant.

    The language in the seven-page ordinance is more detailed and the definitions are now more precise, according to Hazleton City Solicitor Christopher Slusser.

    “I believe the opposition will have a difficult time defeating this ordinance,” Mayor Lou Barletta said.

    In the new ordinance, the city still punishes landlords for “harboring” illegal immigrants, but the enforcement process has been changed. The ordinance states “action shall be initiated” when “any official, business entity or resident of the city” submits a written complaint of a violation. The complaint can not be based “solely or primarily” on national origin or ethnicity, according to the ordinance.

    Upon receiving a “valid” complaint, the city will verify the immigration status of the tenants with the federal government. If the city determines the tenant or tenants to be illegal immigrants, the landlord will have five business days to “correct a violation,” otherwise his rental license will be revoked until a sworn affidavit, stating the violation has ended, is submitted to the city.

    If a landlord commits subsequent violations, he or she will be fined $250 per day for each verified illegal immigrant “harbored” in the dwelling.

    The process for punishing businesses who employ illegal immigrants is similar.

    While conceding that some of the language in the new ordinance was improved, attorneys for the plaintiffs said their argument remains the same: The ordinance is unconstitutional and encourages discrimination.

    “It still has the same issue as the other ordinance: immigration should be decided federally,” said Foster Maer, attorney for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of the groups suing the city. “They are simply amending the first ordinance; it’s all part of the same scheme to regulate immigration.”

    Advocacy groups have also labeled frequent changes to the ordinance as proof of its flaws, while the city has responded by saying change is necessary when taking a progressive step.

    “I know we have made some changes,” Barletta said. “But there has never been anything like this in America.”

    Barletta said the effort to make English the official language of Hazleton was done partly to diffuse concerns that the ordinance targets Hispanics.

    “English has nothing to do with immigration,” he said.

    wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    jennyc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian503a
    Quote Originally Posted by jennyc
    my city is proposing the same thing.

    http://www.altoonamirror.com/News/ar...articleID=4232
    If you were not aware of it might want to check out this page we created on the forum devoted to Altoona's ordinance.

    http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=39371
    Sorry! Thanks. I should have searched first!

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