Another PA City passes 'illegal alien' ordinance :

August 9 , 2006
by MIA LIGHT

"Fashioned after the Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance that was recently adopted as law in the City of Hazleton, the Mahanoy City ordinance became effectively immediately following the unanimous approval of council Tuesday..."

Tuesday gave unanimous approval to the formal adoption of its Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance, which deems it unlawful for a landlord to knowingly rent or lease a housing to an illegal immigrant and subjects business owners who knowingly employ illegal immigrants to financial penalties.

Fashioned after the Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance that was recently adopted as law in the City of Hazleton, the Mahanoy City ordinance became effectively immediately following the unanimous approval of council Tuesday.

Penalties for violations of the borough's new illegal immigration ordinance would include financial penalties of $1,000 or more.

According to borough Solicitor Michael O'Pake, the proposed ordinance does not prohibit any person who holds legal immigration status from living or working in the borough.

"This ordinance doesn't limit or prohibit anyone from coming into the borough if they are legal," O'Pake said when council took the proposed legislation into consideration in July. "What it does is cracks down on illegal immigrants attempting to reside in the borough by focusing on employers and landlords who knowingly employ or knowingly rent to immigrants who do not have appropriate immigration paperwork."

The ordinance, O'Pake said, "focuses on landlords and employers to make sure people have appropriate immigration paperwork before coming into the borough to work or live."

Adoption of the ordinance follows council's action last month that, by unanimously approved resolution, proclaimed English as the official language of the Borough of Mahanoy City, which mandates that all official borough communications shall be expressed and/or printed in one language: English.

Similar versions of the Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance are on the table in numerous Schuylkill County municipalities including Mahanoy City's neighbor, Shenandoah Borough, where English has already been proclaimed by resolution as the official language and formal adoption of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act legislation is expected to come later this month when council holds its regular monthly meeting.

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