RENITA FENNICK | OPINION

Hazleton ruling fails to address city’s problems
By Renita Fennick rfennick@timesleader.com
City Editor

So, U.S. District Judge James Munley thinks that Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta has no business keeping law and order in his city.

In rendering his decision that the city’s proposed ordinances regarding illegal immigrants were unconstitutional, the jurist even granted a permanent injunction preventing Hazleton from enforcing those laws.


So, U.S. District Judge James Munley thinks that Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta has no business keeping law and order in his city.

In rendering his decision that the city’s proposed ordinances regarding illegal immigrants were unconstitutional, the jurist even granted a permanent injunction preventing Hazleton from enforcing those laws.

Now what, Your Honor?

Are you ordering federal immigration officials to come to Hazleton to begin enforcing the law of the land?

City officials, police and all legal residents – including those who followed the law when they moved to this country – have to helplessly watch as lawlessness runs rampant in their city.

That’s what Munley and all of the American Civil Liberties Union types are suggesting.

What ruling should have said
Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act would have fined landlords and suspended licenses of businesses found to house or hire illegal immigrants and require anyone who rents a home or apartment to prove citizenship or lawful residency status.

Munley said these laws would usurp the power of the federal government which is entrusted to protect our borders and regulate immigration.

I would agree with him if Barletta’s proposal turned the city police into an immigrant patrol force.

But, it doesn’t.

It doesn’t say anything about giving Hazleton officers the power to enforce immigration laws.

All it does is allow Hazleton to police its own citizens – to stop them from aiding and abetting illegal activity.

I think that’s rather simple.

Sometimes I wonder if judges and those academic-types who fund the ACLU and its new branch, the Illegal Immigrant Civil Liberties Union, are bogged down by too much legalese – similar to that old adage about the forest and the trees.

It’s as though they can’t see the simple words of the Hazleton proposal because they’re reading through volumes of other legal opinions to prove their case.

The sad end of this story – or, at least, this chapter – is that Munley more or less thumbed his nose at the law-abiding citizens of Hazleton and every other city where illegal immigration is causing major social, legal and economic problems.

If he really cared about keeping America’s borders and jurisdictional responsibilities intact, he would have ordered federal immigration officials to immediately come to Hazleton and start doing what they have been entrusted to do: Enforce the laws that are on the books.

Instead, Hazleton officials are being prohibited from doing what the public has entrusted them to do, to keep the city free of illegal activity.

What’s worse, it could be months or years before this case is finally settled.

In the meantime, the law-abiding citizens of Hazleton are bracing themselves for the return of the many illegal immigrants who flew the coop when the city law was passed.

And, because the federal government won’t enforce the laws on the books, there’s nothing they can do about it.

Renita Fennick may be reached at 829-7246 or rfennick@timesleader.com

http://www.timesleader.com/opinion/2007 ... enita.html