03/12/2007
Breaking News: Hazleton will alter illegal immigration ordinance
By Wade Malcom , Staff Writer

SCRANTON - Hazleton City Council will hold a special meeting Thursday to eliminate three words of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, hoping it will defeat civil rights claims brought by opponents of the ordinance in a federal lawsuit.

Kris Kobach, an immigration law expert arguing the city's case, said city council will change the part of the ordinance that states a complaint against any business or landlord suspected of hiring or renting to illegal immigrants based "solely or primarily" on the basis of race or ethnicity.

The announcement of yet another alteration to the controversial ordinance was a surprise development during opening arguments this morning in the federal trial of Lozano v. City of Hazleton, which will decide whether council and Mayor Lou Barletta have the right to penalize landlords and employers for doing business with illegal immigrants.

The plaintiffs in the case "distorted" those words to mean race or ethnicity could be the basis of a claim as long as it is not the only and determining factor, Kobach said.

Since Hazleton's ordinance allows any business, city official, or even resident to file a complaint, the plaintiffs have based several arguments against the ordinance on the very passage Hazleton now plans to alter, saying it would turn "neighbor against neighbor."

This is at least the fifth time the ordinance has been adjusted since Barletta proposed it in June.

Kobach said this will be done to "accommodate the plaintiffs," hoping they will drop the part of the legal challenge based on civil rights violations.

"Hopefully the plaintiffs will stop barking up this tree," Kobach said.

Check back to www.citizensvoice.com for more updates.

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