Thread: Hazleton's Lack Of Study On Issue Draw Question

Hazleton’s lack of study on issue draws questions


BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER
03/14/2007

Hazleton City Council President Joseph Yanuzzi testified Tuesday neither he nor council — nor anyone in the city to his knowledge — conducted any research, thought to commission any study or received any training on immigration documentation before passing the controversial ordinance.


He was the first city official to take the stand in the case of Lozano v. City of Hazleton.

Testifying for about three hours at the William J. Nealon Federal Building, Mr. Yanuzzi spent much of that time under cross-examination by plaintiff attorney Thomas Wilkinson.

In several different ways, Mr. Wilkinson asked whether this was a poor decision, given that the ordinance punishing landlords and employers for doing business with illegal immigrants was the first of its kind in the country.

“You knew that,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “You knew you were blazing a trail. The mayor was very public about blazing a trial.”

“It’s something that we did to discourage crime in the city,” replied Mr. Yanuzzi, who previously stated that he initially considered the Illegal Immigration Relief Act an “ordinary ordinance.”

But under redirected questioning from a city attorney, Mr. Yanuzzi also said Hazleton had not commissioned a study before passing any ordinance during his tenure as a councilman, adding the city has a hard enough time affording police officers on the street. Illegal immigration, he testified, strained the budget.

Undeterred, Mr. Wilkinson continued to focus on Mr. Yanuzzi’s lack of knowledge and pelted him with questions about the city’s lack of preparation for enforcing the ordinance. Asked if the ordinance justified a study because it could harm residents, Mr. Yanuzzi fired back.

“Every law we make, somebody’s going to be hurt,” he said.

“There is no 100 percent (certainty), and to have studies done ... I pass the pooper- scooper law, what am I going to do — study that? We can’t have consultants come here every two seconds.”

Mr. Wilkinson shot back: “So removing these people (illegal immigrants) from town who are working, living, employed is just the same thing as removing something off the sidewalk?”

To which Mr. Yanuzzi replied: “You’re talking about a person that is, first off, illegal.”

U.S. District Judge James M. Munley then interrupted the exchange because it had become argumentative.

The city hoped to avoid the testimony Mr. Yanuzzi gave Tuesday. Defense attorneys filed a motion late Monday stating Mr. Yanuzzi’s position as a legislator protects him from testifying about his intentions, motivations and reasons for supporting and passing the ordinance.

Judge Munley denied the motion shortly before Mr. Yanuzzi took the stand.

Contact the writer: wmalcolm@citizensvoice.com



©The Times-Tribune 2007

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/ne ... 6046&rfi=6

“There is no 100 percent (certainty), and to have studies done ... I pass the pooper- scooper law, what am I going to do — study that? We can’t have consultants come here every two seconds.”

Why would they need to have studies done? Unless I'm mistaken, hiring consultants to do studies on what should and shouldn't be laws isn't part of the process for making laws on the local level.