Thread: Illegal immigration issues still key in Barletta campaign

Illegal immigration issues still key in Barletta campaign
By David Pierce
Pocono Record Writer
October 12, 2008 6:00 AM

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's impassioned opposition to illegal immigration catapulted him to national prominence and influences his views on other issues as he tries to unseat Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski, D-11.

Barletta, a Republican trying for the second time Nov. 4 to defeat Kanjorski, says government can take some simple steps to deprive illegal immigrants of jobs and housing, leaving them with no choice but to go back to their home countries.

"I believe we can solve this problem and we can do it with compassion," Barletta said Tuesday during an interview with the Pocono Record editorial board.

Barletta's vocal opposition to illegal residents crystallized early in his eight-year run as mayor, when a 14-year-old undocumented resident shot and killed another boy on a local playground. The shooter had a prior criminal record here but was never deported, he said.

Barletta says a massive influx of undocumented workers has forced local taxpayers to take on added costs for everything from police overtime, to additional education programs, to rising health care.

Barletta and his city council responded with two ordinances that are the subjects of court battles. One requires any tenant to go to city hall and produce positive identification before receiving a $5 permit that the tenant would have to show his or her landlord before being allowed to rent.

"It's a beautiful ordinance that could solve the problem," Barletta said.

Another ordinance requires employers to check the legal residency of prospective workers against a federal database — called e-verify — as part of the employment process. Workers are able to challenge false determinations of not being legal residents, before they are fired, he said.

"It takes the onus away from business," Barletta said. "If they were serious," Barletta said of the federal government, "they could have done this years ago."

Barletta says his illegal immigrant crackdown hasn't targeted Hispanics. He said he won 90 percent of the vote during his last run for mayor, with Hispanics accounting for nearly a third of the population.

"Do you know more Hispanic businesses have opened up since I became mayor?" he asked.

Legal immigrants, according to Barletta, appreciate his efforts to upgrade a community park and create mixed income housing nearby utilizing "green" building concepts. Local government put up the land but most of the housing funding came from private interests.

"When the majority of the investment is in private hands it has a better chance to work," Barletta said. "Every time government's the main source it's going to fail."

He says government should invest in alternative energy research, but calls for tax incentives to encourage private industry to develop new domestic energy.

"We have wind, we have coal, we have gas," Barletta said, criticizing President Bush's lobbying of Saudi Arabia to increase oil supplies. "It's embarrassing to watch the government of the United States begging for more oil when we have our own supply right here we're not using."

Barletta denounces Kanjorski and other members of Congress for approving a financial industry bailout package but failing to deal with energy. "When it came time to bail out their Wall Street buddies they stay there until it's done," he said.

For more on the candidates' views on the financial crisis, see Thursday's Pocono Record story and videotaped interviews at www.poconorecord.com/election08.

Barletta contends Kanjorski and other members of Congress are improperly influenced by the large campaign donations they receive from the corporations they regulate. He points to Kanjorski's donations from the National Association of Realtors and financial institutions.

Barletta wants legislation that limits how much elected officials can take from interests that are the subjects of potential legislation before the committees they sit on. He also wants term limits of 10 years for House members.

"They're being wined and dined by special-interest groups and we need to fire them one by one," he said.

He contends Kanjorski admitted lying during the 2006 campaign when he and other Democrats oversold their ability to end the Iraq war when they gained a House majority. The comment was captured on a cell phone camera and is the subject of a Barletta commercial, though Kanjorski says the comments were taken out of context.

"We have a Congressman that admitted lying to us about ending the war," Barletta said. "Why don't we fire him?"

Barletta opposes government-funded universal health insurance but supports tax incentives for individuals to get their own coverage.

Illegal immigrants already drive up the cost of emergency room care by going to ERs for routine health problems, he said.

Universal coverage would act as a magnet to bring more undocumented workers into the country, Barletta added.

He says illegal workers are driving down American wages. Meat plant workers who used to make $19 an hour are only paid $9 now, Barletta said.

"They sold out the American worker for businesses that want cheap labor," Barletta said. "Maybe if you were making $19 an hour it wouldn't hurt if you were paying a little bit more for a hamburger but you could afford health care."

He faulted Congress for the deplorable condition of the Monroe County stretch of Interstate 80.

"They have failed you in Monroe County," he said. "Your interstate is dangerous."

www.poconorecord.com

He contends Kanjorski admitted lying during the 2006 campaign when he and other Democrats oversold their ability to end the Iraq war when they gained a House majority.

Barletta is right, many of the Democrats that were swept into office in 2006 were promising to end the war in Iraq. Yes, that would make them liars. They acquired their seats in the U.S. Congress under false pretense.

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Barletta's vocal opposition to illegal residents crystallized early in his eight-year run as mayor, when a 14-year-old undocumented resident shot and killed another boy on a local playground.

What? That's not what happened!

The 14-year-old shot a gun at the playground, but no one was hurt n that incident.


Links:
Small Town Defenders

For the Cause

Fox News

Diggers Realm

The article is getting the 14-y-o shooting at the playground mixed up with the Derek Kichline cold-blooded murder the day before the playground shooting. That teenager has been deported and no one was hurt in that incident.

Strange how not even our local reporters can get their stories straight.

Sounds like the writer twisted stories.

Has anyone seen the polls on this race lately?