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No date set for new city ordinances to take effect
Thursday, 14 September 2006
By L.A. TARONE
tarone@standardspeaker.com
Exactly when Hazleton’s revamped Illegal Immigration Relief Act and the now-separate official English ordinance take effect is uncertain. On Tuesday night, Mayor Lou Barletta said no firm date has been picked.

The initial IIRA, adopted in July and superseded by the one adopted Tuesday, was supposed to take effect in two phases. The section regarding hiring illegals and the official English clause were to take effect Sept. 11. The section regarding landlords renting to illegals was initially supposed to start being enforced Oct. 1.

Subsequently, however, that was backed up until Nov. 1.

But Tuesday night, Barletta said the city will undertake a process through which both sections of IIRA and the official English bill will begin being enforced.

“First, we have to train city personnel how to deal with both,” Barletta said. “Then there will be a public education effort as well. After that, they will take effect.”

But how long the public education effort will last hasn’t yet been set. The length of training is uncertain as well. And, of course, the wild card is the opponents’ expected request for an injunction, in addition to the planned revamping of the suit against the proposal’s contents.

An injunction is a legal order from a court to stop an action from taking place; it is not the same as a suit challenging the legality or constitutionality of the ord- inance.

In this case, opponents – including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and a handful of private law firms – are expected to ask U.S. District Court in Scranton to stop Hazleton from enforcing the ordinance (or perhaps ordinances, if the official English bill is challenged as well) until the conclusion of the suit challenging the contents of the law.

If granted, the injunction would prevent the city from enforcing the bill until a decision is reached in federal district court. Reaching a decision could take anywhere from a few months to two or three years.

Both sides are expected to appeal a decision that went in the other party’s favor. But, if granted, an injunction to prevent enforcement would be rescinded once a decision is reached.

So, if the city wins in district court, and the opposition files an appeal, the city could begin enforcement once that initial decision is reached. If opponents wanted an injunction to prevent enforcement until an appellate decision is reached, they would have to request another injunction.