Thread: Hazleton up for challenge to immigration laws

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/16403342.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 07, 2007



Hazleton up for challenge to immigration laws
Barletta says city is in a good position to defend suits filed over Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com

“Both sides agreed (Hazleton) will be battleground for the United States on this issue (and) that it could go all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Mayor Louis Barletta


HAZLETON – Mayor Louis Barletta says the city is positioned well to handle litigation filed over the city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act – much better than officials in Escondido, Calif., who also face a lawsuit over a similar law.

While Hazleton’s ordinance would punish landlords and businesses who rent to or employ illegal immigrants, Escondido’s ordinance would ban apartment managers from renting to illegal immigrants.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have sued both cities, claiming their ordinances are unconstitutional.

Escondido’s assistant city manager, Jack Anderson, said Escondido’s legal bills related to its ordinance total about $200,000. That city set up a legal defense fund in November and had received less than $500 in donations from the public as of last month.

Barletta said he recently addressed the issue on two segments of CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

“The first segment talked about Escondido backing down and repealing their ordinance under pressure from the ACLU, and how Hazleton is continuing its fight and my position that I have no intentions of backing down,” Barletta said.

Barletta said the second segment of the program was an interview about Hazleton.

“It addressed the lawsuit and fact that Hazleton has been called ‘The Alamo’ by opponents who are suing us. Both sides agreed (Hazleton) will be battleground for the United States on this issue (and) that it could go all the way to the Supreme Court,” Barletta said.

The Hazleton mayor said he didn’t care what the ACLU had to say about bankrupting the city.

“They used the same tactic they used on Escondido, to scare the city into backing down. The ACLU thought this little city would roll over and back down. But I will never stop fighting for the people in my city, and I will never back down,” Barletta said.

Escondido reached a settlement with the ACLU to withdraw the ordinance.

Hazleton city council withdrew its original immigration ordinance after the city was sued and came back with a revised version. An amendment was added to it last month that, among other things, would prevent the city from prosecuting landlords who knowingly enter into automatically renewing leases with illegal immigrants before enforcement of the ordinance begins.

A federal judge put a hold on enforcement pending a trial to determine the constitutionality of the ordinance.

Anderson said Escondido’s ordinance is “essentially dead,” but council members there said they planned to develop a new ordinance that would withstand legal challenges. So far, no replacement ordinance has been proposed.

Barletta said that if they do come up with a new ordinance, Escondido officials “would be wise to just follow Hazleton’s lead, because they’re getting free legal advice.”

“They already made some tactical mistakes. First, they did not set up a legal defense fund until November. Second, they didn’t file a claim with their insurance carrier. And third, they did not hire immigration experts,” Barletta said.

Barletta said he hired “the top immigration experts in the nation. Some are working for us pro bono and some are working at discounted rates. Some were assigned to us by our insurance carrier. Escondido went out and hired the top law firm in (Los Angeles), but they had little immigration expertise and high legal bills.”

Barletta hired Kris W. Kobach, an immigration attorney and professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. A graduate of Harvard and Oxford universities and Yale Law School, Kobach was also appointed former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s chief adviser on immigration law and border security in 2001.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Kobach was put in charge of Department of Justice efforts to tighten border security and “return the rule of law to immigration,” according to his biography on the university Web site.

Barletta also accepted offers of pro bono legal assistance on the case from two nonprofit legal foundations – Mountain States Legal Foundation and the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The mayor also set up a Web site – www.smalltowndefenders.com – and a legal defense fund in June. The city has already collected more than $60,000 in donations from the public, Barletta said.

Mary Ellen Leib, of Hazleton’s Finance Department, said the city’s Errors and Omissions insurance policy covers city employees – including council members and the mayor – for damages and legal fees up to $1 million if they are found to have made errors in carrying out their official duties.

Defense fund donations will cover anything the insurance policy does not, Barletta said.

Anderson said he doesn’t believe California cities have the option of obtaining such insurance for city officials.

Barletta says his administration protected the city “in the fact that we have the best legal minds dealing with immigration in the country working for us, as well as a well-publicized and developed legal defense fund.”

“If Escondido decides to pass an amended ordinance, it would be wise to pass the Hazleton ordinance,” he said.

Mayor Lou did you ever know your my hero?