Thread: Pa. Town Defending Illegal Immigration Act

GO HAZELTON!


Mar 12, 2007 2:27 pm US/Eastern
Pa. Town Defending Illegal Immigration Act

(AP) HAZELTON A Pennsylvania city's crackdown on illegal immigrants is usurping the federal government's power over immigration policy, a plaintiffs' attorney said Monday in the first federal trial over whether local governments may act on their own to curb illegal immigration.

Witold "Vic" Walczak, the Pennsylvania legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in his opening statement that there is no evidence to back up Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's claim that illegal immigrants are destroying the quality of life in the former coal town in northeastern Pennsylvania.

"Even if illegal immigrants really are wreaking havoc on Hazleton, that doesn't change the legal analysis," he said of the laws, which were prompted by a number of high-profile crimes involving illegal immigrants.

Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri law professor representing Hazleton, said the city has welcomed immigrants throughout its history, from Irish immigrants in the 19th century, to Italians in the early 20th century and Hispanics in the 1980s and '90s.

But after 2000, when Hispanics primarily from New York and New Jersey began arrived in droves, "something had changed. Hazleton had seen new criminals and new sorts of crime," said Kobach, an immigration adviser under former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The city had one murder in 1994 and didn't have another until 2001, when a killing was allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, he said. Five more murders in 2005 and 2006 all involved illegal immigrants, Kobach said.

He also said Congress has clearly stated its intent that states and municipalities can help the federal government enforce immigration law, noting that in 1996 Congress required that states and municipalities ascertain the immigration status of anyone seeking public benefits.

The non-jury trial is expected to last two weeks.

"This is the day we've been waiting for for a long time," Barletta said outside the federal courthouse on Monday. "Small cities can no longer sit back and wait for the federal government to do something."

It has been nearly a year since Hazleton embarked on a high-profile campaign to rid itself of illegal immigrants. The city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act would impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that employ them. A companion measure requires tenants to register with City Hall.

Under the legislation, race and ethnicity may be used as a basis for making a complaint, as long as it is not "solely or primarily" the factor -- leading the plaintiffs to claim the city was sanctioning racism. In court Monday, Kobach announced that City Council planned to remove those three words, making any complaint even partially based on race or ethnicity automatically invalid.

U.S. District Judge James Munley, who is presiding over the trial, barred enforcement of the laws pending the outcome of the case.

Dr. Agapito Lopez, 63, a retired ophthalmologist and Hispanic leader in Hazleton, testified the ordinance had inspired a "wave of hate" in a city where Latinos and non-Latinos previously had gotten along very well.

Lopez, a Puerto Rican who is an outspoken opponent of the ordinances, said he had received hate mail and that his neighbors were no longer friendly toward him.

Harry Mahoney, a lawyer for the city, sought to undercut Lopez by pointing out that he had once publicly declared Latinos "will never assimilate." He also got Lopez to agree that Barletta had worked to secure ballfields for the city's Hispanic children and poured $500,000 into a playground in a Hispanic neighborhood.

Dozens of cities and towns around the country have followed Hazleton's lead, approving laws ranging from penalizing companies that employ illegal immigrants to making English the official language of local government.

Barletta began pushing for the crackdown after illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged in May 2006 with shooting and killing a 29-year-old man, and a 14-year-old boy was arrested for firing a gun at a playground.

In court papers, Hazleton said illegal immigrants have committed at least 47 crimes since last spring, consuming much of the city's police overtime budget. Illegal immigrants were the subject of one-third of all drug arrests in 2005, and they have driven up the costs of health care and education, the city said.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_071143207.html


Welcome to Small Town Defenders!
Submitted by Small Town Defender on Tue, 2006-06-13 04:01. ::

We need your help! Your contribution will help us win this fight! Send a check or money order to:
City of Hazleton Legal Defense Fund, c/o Mayor Lou Barletta
City Hall, 40 N. Church St., Hazleton, PA 18201

http://www.smalltowndefenders.com/public/

Good Luck and God Speed---my prayers are with you Hazleton, and Louis Barletta.

Prove to this myopic group of illegal scofflaws, and a judiciary aching to enforce our immigration laws, what reality is!

Go Hazelton all legal immigrants and U.S. citizens are with you!!!