Posted on Tue, Feb. 12, 2008


Hazleton to release names of donors to legal defense fund

The Associated Press

HAZLETON, Pa. - The city of Hazleton has agreed to release the names of donors to its legal defense fund.

The city has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend its Illegal Immigration Relief Act. The law sought to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that employ them. A federal judge struck down the law as unconstitutional last summer.

The Times Leader newspaper of Wilkes-Barre filed a lawsuit in Luzerne County Court after the city refused to release the names of the donors on privacy grounds.

The city has now agreed to release the names as part of a settlement of the suit.

The newspaper has agreed to refrain from publishing Social Security, bank account, credit card or personal identification numbers of any donor.

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