Judge, officials criticize illegal immigrants
By DAVE PIDGEON, Staff
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Sep 25, 2007 12:24 AM EST

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/209933


HARRISBURG, Pa. - A local lawmaker is among state Republicans urging a tougher stance against illegal immigration.

The group held a press conference Monday to release "Invasion Pennsylvania," a study on illegal immigrants and crime, and to urge passage of legislation cracking down on illegal immigration. State Rep. Tom Creighton of Rapho Township is co-sponsor of two bills in the package.

Critics said the report's methodology was flawed. They also rebuked a state appeals judge for speaking at the event, calling it inappropriate for a sitting jurist to appear at a partisan political rally.

"Invasion Pennsylvania" blames illegal immigrants for more than 3,100 crimes committed in Pennsylvania since 2003. However, the numbers include people charged with crimes but not yet tried as well as those who have been convicted.

"When somebody reads (in a news report) there's … an alleged rape, they see that as a crime," state Rep. Daryl Metcalf said during a press conference at the state Capitol. "That's what we're calling it here, a crime. Some of the ones in (the report) have been convicted and put in prison, some have been deported, and there are some, I'm sure, waiting for their trial."

Robert Nix, chairman of the Pennsylvania Hispanic Republicans, called the use of such statistics "political opportunism."

"When you just go on the politics of fearmongering, you aren't serving anybody's needs here," Nix said from Philadelphia in a telephone interview.

According to "Invasion Pennsylvania," there are as many as 200,000 illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania, and in some areas of the state they commit as many as 12 percent of the felonies, 25 percent of burglaries and 34 percent of thefts.

Metcalf heads a group of Republicans sponsoring legislation called "National Security Begins at Home," which would crack down on illegal immigrants. He and other representatives accused the Legislature's Democratic majority of blocking the bills and said "Invasion Pennsylvania," its data assembled from policy hearings and media reports, showed the need for such measures.

The report includes the alleged plot to bomb Fort Dix, N.J., which the FBI broke up. One of the six alleged conspirators was an illegal immigrant living in Philadelphia, and the other five were trained in the Poconos, according to law enforcement accounts. Their trial is pending.

The report also includes an Irishman captured in Philadelphia in July 2003, accused of ambushing two police officers in Northern Ireland 32 years ago. One of the officers was killed.

Other listed crimes include murder, sexual assault, identity theft, welfare fraud and drunken driving.

Metcalf said illegal immigrants already have broken the law before they are found guilty of other crimes.

"We are a nation that lives under the rule of law, and that rule of law is being disrupted by everyone who violates our borders," he said.

Creighton struck a softer tone, saying after the press conference that emotional rhetoric needs to be toned down for all sides of the debate to find common ground.

"Many see us as grandstanding and using this for political reasons," he said. "We need to come together and solve this issue."

Among the speakers Monday was state Superior Judge Correale F. Stevens of Luzerne County, who said the need for the state to crack down on illegal immigration is driven by inaction from the federal government on immigration reform.

"Something is a little bit bizarre here, backwards and upside down, and we need to turn that around," he said.

"The city of Hazleton tries to enforce the law, and they get taken to court," he said, referring to that town's attempt to penalize businesses and landlords that deal with illegal immigrants. The ordinance was overturned in federal court earlier this year.

Pennsylvania's conduct rules for judges prohibit judicial candidates from saying anything that would appear to commit them to positions regarding cases, controversies or issues likely to come before them.

Abe Amoros, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said Stevens' remarks caught him off guard.

"You cannot disassociate yourself from the issue, and this was a political rally, that's what it was — let's not make any bones about that," Amoros said.

Nix slammed Stevens for speaking out on the issue.

"I saw a staircase full of political opportunists, and that included a superior court judge that should know better" than to take a political position, he said. "That's inexcusable."

Stevens faces a retention election in November.

Nix said he supports Democratic state Rep. John Yudichak's bill to create a commission that would draw up statewide immigration reforms.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.