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Posted on Sun, Jul. 23, 2006

Hazle Twp. quietly passes own immigration ordinance
Though it is patterned on Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act, there are minor differences.

By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@leader.net

HAZLE TWP. – After Hazleton was thrust into the national spotlight with the introduction of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act ordinance in June, officials in a nearby municipality quietly passed a similar law before Hazleton City Council adopted its ordinance on July 13.

Supervisors on July 11 voted unanimously to adopt the Hazle Township Illegal Immigration Relief Act – an ordinance almost identical to the original version of Hazleton’s Relief Act ordinance.

Because Hazleton is a third class city, council was required by state law to vote on the ordinance three times for adoption, although the final two readings are allowed at the same meeting. Township supervisors can adopt an ordinance after one reading.

While most of the language in the two ordinances is identical, there are some differences.

A business found to knowingly employ an illegal immigrant in Hazleton would have its business license suspended for five years for a first offense and 10 years for a second offense. Such a business in Hazle Township would have its permit suspended for two years.

Other council amendments that supervisors did not add include an explanation of the ordinance’s purpose, additional exceptions for aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, and the exclusion of some forms of communication in the official-language section.

For example, while the Hazleton ordinance prohibits “aiding and abetting” illegal immigrants, one section exempted providing medical assistance from being considered a form of aiding and abetting. City council amended that section to also allow emergency and legal assistance, but township supervisors did not include those two additional exemptions.

And in the section that makes English the city’s official language, council deleted telecommunications and electronic communications from the types of city business that must be conducted in English. Those provisions remain in the township ordinance.

Dr. Agapito Lopez, a Hazleton physician and Hazleton Area Latino Taskforce member, said he told supervisors that the ordinance is “unconstitutional and violates all the civil rights laws that have been written. It has raised a lot of hate and a lot of discrimination in the population of Hazleton and Hazle Township.”

His message was delivered after the supervisors’ 6 p.m. meeting because he was given an agenda that listed the meeting time as 7 p.m., and he didn’t arrive until 6:45 p.m., Lopez said.

Supervisors William Gallagher and Anthony Matz did not return calls seeking comment. Supervisor Francis Boyarski could not be reached for comment.

Township Secretary Carol Lenahan said the 7 p.m. meeting time was a typo she forgot to correct on a computer template. She said the meeting time was advertised correctly in a newspaper.

Lenahan also defended the ordinance’s official-language section, saying it would be unfair to other nationalities to provide documents only in English and Spanish and too costly to provide them in every existing language.

Lopez said he suspects the township will follow Hazleton’s lead in adopting a landlord-tenant ordinance that would require tenants to obtain occupancy permits and prove that they are legal residents.

He said the ordinances “most probably will eliminate most of the Latinos (as tenants) because I don’t think (landlords) will send white people to get a permit. It will block (Latinos’) access by making them go through all the red tape with council and supervisors, who don’t conduct any business in Spanish.”

Wilkes-Barre lawyer Barry Dyller – one of 11 lawyers who warned Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta that their clients would sue the city if the ordinance passed – says Hazleton will continue to be the focus of a civil rights lawsuit they’re working on because most of the people affected live in the city.

But he encouraged any Hazle Township resident who is affected by the township ordinance to contact him or another attorney.

Dyller said he, attorneys George Barron of Wilkes-Barre and David Vaida of Allentown, and attorneys from the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Community Justice Project and the American Civil Liberties Union continue to take on Hazleton clients, but he declined to provide an approximate number.

Lopez said similar ordinances are being considered locally in White Haven and Freeland. The Schuylkill County towns of Shenandoah, Lansford and McAdoo are also considering legislation.


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Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.