Thread: Barletta on Dobbs: City won’t back down on IIRA

Barletta on Dobbs: City won’t back down on IIRA

http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.ph ... 2&Itemid=2

Tuesday, 26 December 2006
From staff reports

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta made a return appearance on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” Tuesday. Again, the subject was the Illegal Immigration Relief Act (IIRA). Christine Romans guest-hosted for the vacationing Dobbs. She opened Barletta’s segment by noting Escondido, Calif., which had passed a IIRA copycat, has backed down. When a group of plaintiffs filed suit against the law, the city decided not to defend the suit in court and not to attempt to enforce it.

“Are you daunted?” Romans asked.

“No, I am not,” Barletta answered.

He said Hazleton’s legal team was giving the city a “discount rate” on its fees, and that the city had set up an online legal defense fund, smalltowndefenders.com.

Barletta’s answer to Romans’ question made reference to two recent orders by Judge James M. Munley of U.S. Middle District Court in Scranton, which protected the anonymity of plaintiffs in the case who are listed as “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.”

“So, you’re being sued by people who are not identified?” Romans asked.
“That’s right,” Barletta responded.

Romans pointed to comments from Vic Walczak of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups fighting IIRA in court. He said plaintiffs gave Barletta the chance to show specifics and statistics of criminal behavior by illegals in Hazleton and he wasn’t able to. Romans asked Barletta for a response to the comments.

“They’re quite amusing, actually,” Barletta said.

He then clicked off a list of crimes done by those in the country illegally, which included the killing of Derek Kichline, the 14-year-old who fired shots at the Pine Street Playground this summer and several arrested for selling drugs.

He added that half the police department’s overtime budget was spent investigating the Kichline killing and also pointed to a ballooning of the Hazleton Area School District’s English as a Second Language program.
“He should refresh himself on the notes,” Barletta said of Walczak.

In response to another Romans question, Barletta reiterated that IIRA was not “racist” or “anti-immigrant,” adding the city was not “rolling up the welcome mat” for legal immigrants.

“Illegal is illegal,” Barletta said. “It should not go any farther than that.”
Romans said an ACLU official told her “Hazleton is our Alamo,” and asked whether the fight could get too expensive for Hazleton to continue.

Barletta again noted the price break the city’s getting from its legal team and its legal fund, but also acknowledged the “other side has 25 attorneys.

“We have a big heart; we won’t back down from this fight,” Barletta said.

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I saw him on Lou Dobbs yesterday as many here probably did too.
Mayor Barletta is the real deal. He sits there looking confident and straight at the camera. Sure hope his town doesn't have financial woes over this, that would be the only problem I can see. Other than that the mayor is determined and won't back down. He said this may go all the way to the Supreme Court. 25 lawyers on the other side? Isn't it amazing how the ACLU is determined to sue citizens right and left? Their power smells.
Go Mayor Barletta!!!

I know it's been said many times before, but if you can, send a donation their way at http://SmallTownDefenders.com

I donated $50 last night. Man, it felt good.

I am so proud to have a fellow American like Lou
Barletta. I was also so proud listening to Tancredo
on Tom Brokaw's Hour of Dissimulation. I'm glad
there are some good Americans out there.

I donated last night as well. It felt very good! I admire Lou Barletta very much for the stand he is taking. He is a wonderful example to all Americans. Tom Tancredo is as well. They give us all hope.