Thread: Allentown to revisit hot-button immigration issue

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November 25, 2006
Allentown to revisit hot-button immigration issue

City committee to discuss councilman's plan at Dec. 4 meeting.
By Scott Kraus Of The Morning Call Nationally, the furor over illegal immigration has subsided a bit after the November election.

In Hazleton, the city has been ordered by a federal judge to delay enforcement of its law penalizing landlords for renting to and employers for hiring illegal immigrants pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

But in Allentown, the issue will be back at the top of the agenda Dec. 4 at a meeting of City Council's Legal and Legislative Committee.

The meeting will address Councilman Louis Hershman's proposal to require the police department to actively cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies, including certifying patrolmen to act as immigration officers.

''My hope is we can amend the administrative code and get working with it,'' Hershman said.

That depends on the rest of his council colleagues. To date, they have offered little support to Hershman's immigration proposals.

The meeting could be the first step in reaching a final resolution to Hershman's relentless quest, which began in July when he offered up the first draft of his first illegal immigrant ordinance.

City Council has avoided voting on his immigration proposals over the past four months. Hershman never got a second for his initial proposal, a more sweeping plan modeled after the Hazleton law, and it died.

Before it expired, it spawned competing proposals on the opposite side of the issue, including designating the city as a sanctuary city for immigrants — which also failed to gain traction.

Hershman used a petition drive in October to introduce his current proposal. Until now, it has languished in committee.

In the meantime, he tried and failed to get Councilman Michael D'Amore removed from the Legal and Legislative Affairs committee because he was opposed to the plan.

Committee chairman Martin Velazquez III said much of the debate on the issue seems to be fueled by emotion rather than facts. He said he thinks immigration enforcement should be left to the federal government.

Nonetheless, he said he is interested in gathering as much information on the extent of the city's illegal immigration problem, before making a decision.

Velazquez said he expects a healthy turnout on Dec. 4 from people on both sides.

''I want to make sure we gather facts, not people's assumptions and opinions…'' he said. ''I'm very concerned with expending additional resources on something that may not be supported by the facts. I want to see if there is a problem.''

City solicitor Hank Perkin weighed in on the legality of Hershman's proposal in a nine-page memo to Councilman Julio Guridy.

The Nov. 9 memo said Hershman's proposal doesn't raise the same constitutional problems under fire in Hazleton and could be considered legal, but might also expose the city to civil rights lawsuits if officers are involved in identifying illegal immigrants.

Once Velazquez's committee decides to forward the measure, with a recommendation, Velazquez said he thinks it is time to finally bring Hershman's proposal to vote before the full council. That could happen in late December or January, and would effectively end council's involvement.

As an alternative, Hershman also has introduced an ordinance placing his plan before the voters in the May primary, and has suggested that if council fails to authorize a ballot question, he may seek to use a petition drive to put it on the ballot in the form of a citizen initiative.

David Vaida, an Allentown attorney and advocate for the Hispanic community, said he doesn't think the city should enact legislation of any type on immigration, but that the issue should be settled soon.

''It's all wrong for the same reason, which is trying to intrude into federal immigration policy,'' Vaida said.

scott.kraus@mcall.com

610-820-6582

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