Supporters of city’s immigration law rally in front of courthouse
Tuesday, 20 March 2007

By KENT JACKSON

SCRANTON — The battle against illegal immigration is just beginning with the trial of a Hazleton ordinance, a rally leader supporting the city said Monday.
Frank Scano, an Old Forge businessman and school director, said whatever the verdict, the Hazleton case will be appealed and discussed into the future.
Meanwhile, the federal government can act.
“We need to close the borders within 90 days,” Scano said across the street from the William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.
He asked the audience at the rally to urge members of Congress to tighten security on the borders.
Ann Marie Banks of Scranton illustrated his point by saying a friend of hers from Wales who overstayed her visa was stopped at the airport the next time she attempted to enter the United States.
“If she was stopped, why can’t we stop the others?” Banks said.
A brisk wind blew flags behind the podium where Banks and Scano spoke.
Scano told approximately 30 spectators who attended despite the chill that they represented other supporters of the act who had to work or are following the trial across the country.
Some of the crowd came from Hazleton, including Geri and James Shewack. They arrived to support Mayor Louis Barletta’s effort to make Hazleton the toughest city in the United States for illegal immigrants.
“It’s just the word ‘illegal’ is exactly what it means. If they don’t go by the laws, why should we?” said Geri Shewack, making a point similar to the slogan “Illegal is Illegal” on a sign that her husband carried.
“Crime has gotten out of hand,” said James Shewack before referring to Derek Kichline, who was shot on May 10, 2006, while reaching inside his car. “That could have been me. I work outside my home.”
Four illegal immigrants await trial in the case, cited by Barletta as a reason why he favors the IIRA.
Some illegal immigrants are good, honest people, said Paul Catalano, Republican chairman of Lackawanna County and ally of Barletta.
But by entering and working illegally in the United States, they are “gaining fruits of a poisonous tree,” Catalano said.
“I feel it is an insult to our ancestors who came over. Everybody who came over did it the right way,” he said.
After the meeting, Lucas Guttentag of Americans Civil Liberties Union, a group suing the city, said restriction was unrestricted until about the 1880s. Initial restrictions affected Chinese immigrants. No restrictions on Latin American immigrants applied until the 1960s.
Immigration has often tugged the United States in different directions.
“There’s been a long history of celebration of ourselves as a nation of immigrants, and of reacting negatively. (With) each new wave, we reacted with hostility,” Guttentag said.

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