October 9, 2006
Allentown doesn't need an illegal immigration ordinance


As Allentown City Councilman Louis J. Hershman makes illegal immigration a personal agenda, here are several reasons why illegal immigration is not an issue to the city.

In ''Latinos in the Lehigh Valley,'' a study of almost a year ago by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., researcher Lillian Escobar-Haskins charts census data on Allentown Latinos as to their places of origin. The study points out that according to the 2000 U.S Census, Puerto Ricans represent 68 percent of the Latinos in Allentown. Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens. As Americans, Puerto Ricans are a migrant community on the mainland. As a result, 68 percent of the Latino population in Allentown does not count as immigrants.

Lehigh Valley Local Links
Mobile News | Subscribe Online | Order Reprints
The repeated elections of two Latino councilmen who sit next to Councilman Hershman speak volumes as to where Allentown's electorate is in regard to matters of language, color, gender and sexual orientation when it comes to elect City officials.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski affirms current studies that poverty, not immigration, is the most serious issue in the city.

A memo by City Controller Frank Concannon suggested that council members grant a second to the proposed ordinance. His sage political wisdom here is to bring the ordinance to the table for a fair discussion, and, more likely, see it defeated in the council chamber.

Few Latinos (or Anglos) attended the two ad hoc committee hearings Mr. Hershman held at City Hall. Most Allentonians did not deem the matter of illegal immigration significant enough to attend. Distinguished leaders from the Allentown School District and Lehigh Valley Hospital did not accept the invitation extended by the ad hoc committee to testify. (Congressmen Charles W. Dent, however, did send a representative. Dent is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and has toured the Mexican border in Laredo, Texas.) The dignitaries' absence indicates to me that illegal immigrants in Allentown do not affect local schools, health-care services, or possible security concerns. (In regard to national security, Congress approved the building of a 700-mile fence between the United States and Mexico. Since the terrorists who attacked this country on 9/11 entered through Canada, would leaders like Hershman support a law to build a fence between Canada and United States?)

The Allentown Police Department already follows the federal illegal immigration procedures. Police Chief Roger MacLean acknowledged in a story in The Morning Call that his officers check the identities of people in custody, and whenever they come across illegal immigrants, they turn them over to federal officials. Recently, federal agents arrested 26 illegal immigrants from Allentown, Reading, Lancaster and Chambersburg. The federal sweep did not specify how many were from Allentown.

In the matter of language, although Mr. Hershman notes that English is not part of the ordinance draft, I refer again to Ms. Escobar-Haskins' study, ''Latinos in the Lehigh Valley.'' It said, ''Most second generation Latinos (which are those born in the U.S.) are typically bilingual and in many cases, English is their primary language.'' Her research adds, ''Third generations and beyond are primarily English dominant and many speak Spanish poorly or not at all.'' This language transition points to the acculturation and assimilation that is taking place among Latino migrants and immigrants. The whole process is being accomplished without any fixed law.

Allentown's Ad Hoc Illegal Immigration Study Committee gathered no concrete evidence as to why illegal immigration is enough of an issue to bring a question to the voters. Yes, Councilman Hershman may have collected the signatures required to keep his proposed draft alive. Nevertheless, there are plenty of reasons why illegal immigration is not an issue in Allentown.

The Rev. Nelson Quiñones is assistant pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church in Allentown.



''Puerto Ricans are U.S.

Citizens.''

http://www.mcall.com/