Thread: Newton backs off on illegal immigrants

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Newton backs off on illegal immigrants
Town now has doubts proposals will hold up
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
BY JIM LOCKWOOD AND PAULA SAHA
Star-Ledger Staff
Newton has backed off plans to crack down on illegal immigration.

Just a month after the Sussex County town raised the issue of taking a hard line against illegal immigrants, local officials said yesterday they will hold off on an ordinance that would try to stem the problem by punishing landlords and businesses. The officials said the municipal attorney determined the federal government has juris diction over immigration, and a local ordinance likely would not hold up in court.

Newton Councilman Philip Dig lio had cited an increase in crime involving illegal immigrants, including a stabbing, an apartment fire and growing incidences of "stack ing," the packing of more people into a dwelling than is allowed, when he drafted his ordinance.

Modeled after a measure passed in Hazleton, Pa., it would require noncitizens to bring green cards, visas and working papers to town hall for verification before they could rent a place to live or be hired for a job. Any business owner who hired an illegal immigrant would be denied business permits and municipal contracts for five years, and landlord fines would range from $1,000 for a first offense to $10,000 for three or more offenses.

Both Hazleton and Riverside, a Burlington County town that was the first in New Jersey to adopt an ordinance similar to Hazleton's, have been sued over their ordi nances.

"The best bet is to let Hazleton wrestle with it. Let them fight the battle and see what comes out of it," Newton Mayor Kevin Elvidge said yesterday.

Latino groups that oppose ordi nances such as Hazleton's were happy to hear of Newton's decision. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which claims 15,000 member churches nationwide, filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against Riverside and threatened to sue Newton should it approve Diglio's plan.

"Our attorney sent a letter to Mr. Diglio regarding his intention. We told him very clearly we were ready to file a lawsuit. Apparently, as soon as they heard that, they backed off," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, the coalition's president.

Jose Perez, development direc tor of the Latino Leadership Alliance, based in New Brunswick, said, "If you look at the matter from the perspective of a standing legal precedent, it's a federal issue. It's only going to get resolved when Congress decides to come up with comprehensive federal immigration reform, which has been the position of the alliance and immigrant groups all along."

Rivera added, "If Congress doesn't do anything, we have to get a strong message from the courts to stop cities from passing these types of ordinances. We're just hop ing that something will happen as soon as possible in federal court."

Hazleton has been making changes to its "Illegal Alien Immi gration Relief Act," adopted in July, to make the measure "more defensible in court," Mayor Louis Barletta said yesterday in a telephone interview.

The wording of the ordinance was changed to "actually express what the federal government allows us to do as a local municipality in dealing with this issue. I be lieve this ordinance is now as defensible as it can be," Barletta said.

Hazleton's original ordinance also has been divided into three laws: one that makes it illegal to provide housing for or to employ illegal aliens, one that designates English as the city's official language and another that requires all tenants to obtain a permit from city officials before they are able to rent a dwelling.

Newton's council members said they also plan to concentrate on things the town has control over, such as enforcing ordinances on stacking.

Although Diglio's proposal for Newton also would have made English the official language in the town, there was no indication yesterday the council planned to vote on that proposal separately.


Jim Lockwood may be reached at jlockwood@starledger.com or (973) 383-0516.

http://www.njherald.com/293387408773745.php

Newton drops get-tough proposal
Wednesday, September 27, 2006

By JOHN BRAND

Herald Senior Writer

NEWTON — Town officials agreed last week to drop an anti-illegal immigrant ordinance considered among the toughest of its kind in the nation. But the councilman driving the issue plans to pursue other methods of eradicating illegals from the 3 1/2-square-mile town.

"I'm certainly not going to let it go, because something needs to be done," said Councilman Philip Diglio, who presented the idea last month to town officials, but never introduced the measure.

At a work session closed to the public last week, town attorney Mark Hontz told the council that immigration-related matters fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government, meaning federal law would supersede any local measure, Diglio said. His advice called into question whether the measure, if passed, could withstand a court challenge, which the American Civil Liberties Union has pursued against other towns that have passed similar laws.

"From strictly an economic standpoint, it's not feasible to move forward with it," Mayor Kevin Elvidge said. "It will cost a lot of money to defend only to lose in court."

The town instead will wait and see how the issue proceeds in Hazleton, Pa., where Diglio first heard of the ordinance and used it as a guide when drafting his own, and in Riverside, Burlington County.

The councilman said he may ask his colleagues to consider a law being pursued in Suffolk County, N.Y., that seeks to penalize businesses that hire illegal aliens by not awarding them contracts.

Immediately, Diglio said, he may sponsor a resolution to ask the federal government to give local officials the ability to fine those who hire or rent to individuals they know to be illegal immigrants.

"If they're not going to do anything about it, then they need to let us handle it," Diglio said. "Then, of course, if we have to enforce the laws, then we would want funds to do so."

In August, Diglio gave the public a copy of a work-in-progress ordinance that threatened to deny business permits and city contracts for five years to businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. It also threatened to fine landlords up to $10,000 for allowing them to rent and sought to make English the town's official language.

The ordinance represented a growing trend nationwide to crack down on illegal immigrants presumably in frustration over the federal government's handling of the issue. Diglio has said illegal immigrants who break federal laws by crossing state lines and then utilize social service agencies without paying into the system are a problem that needs to be addressed.

The news in Newton kicked off a letter writing campaign to The Herald between Diglio and those for, or against it. It also resulted in "a furor of calls" to Town Hall, Mayor Elvidge said, adding that 80 to 85 percent of the responses were positive.

"I've been approached by so many people who say 'Go for it. I'll move back into town if you pass it,'" Elvidge said. "But to me, this came out of the blue. I don't think this needs to be addressed right now. I think there are other matters we need to pursue first."

Elvidge said the town will re-double its efforts to enforce laws currently in place that will help address the problem. For instance, officials in the zoning, building and fire departments will be aggressively seeking residences where "stacking" is a problem. Stacking is a term for overcrowding of residences or apartments by more people than local laws allow.

He also said the town may ask the public to notify local officials if it appears too many people are living in one household.

Critics, including the ACLU, say the law would cause law enforcement entities to question and possibly arrest anyone of a different race regardless of their immigration status.

"Most of the backlash came from people who didn't understand the difference between legal and illegal," Diglio said.

I'm a stone's throw from Newton and was partially listening to the info via radio. I'M SO DISGUSTED! This is a little, rural area and we're getting the dredges of society dumped up here gratis of the NJ/NY government.............DUMP EM IN SUSSEX CTY. What the hell do they know. What happened in Penn. will be happening here if folks don't stop and take a look for more than a milisecond!

Oh, I'm so furious, flames are shooting out of my nose! This is where they held one of the very first "IMMIGRATION" forums at the community college about 4 or 5 yrs. ago at which they tried desperately to stop me from talking. They've picked this area to work thinking that the farmers are simple, uneducated people who can be manipulated.

{rant over}