Thread: Hazleton, Pa., all-American

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation ... -headlines

Hazleton, Pa., all-American
Town considers strict rules against illegal immigrants
By Julie Bykowicz
Sun reporter
Originally published July 9, 2006
HAZLETON, Pa. // Flags in green, white and red, the colors of Mexico, welcome shoppers at one of this small city's newest convenience stores, where the shelves are stocked with dried peppers and corn husks and dotted with handwritten "especial!" signs.

With a Latino immigrant population that has swelled almost tenfold since 2000, Hazleton was a natural place for Kimberly Lopez, a Pennsylvania native, and her husband, Ruddy Lopez, a Mexican immigrant, to open their store, their dream, four months ago.

Their timing couldn't have been worse, they say.

Last month, Mayor Lou Barletta proposed an ordinance that targets the city's illegal immigrants - and offends, some Hispanic community leaders say, the city's thousands of legal immigrants.

The mayor wants to make English the official city language, fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and revoke the business permits of their employers.

"Illegal aliens are a drain on our resources, and they are not welcome here," Barletta says.

The mayor's fighting words have pitched this former coal town in northeastern Pennsylvania into the spotlight at a time of intense national debate over immigration reform. All but certain to pass this week, the Hazleton ordinance would be the toughest law of its kind in the country.

Witold Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, says the ACLU has "grave concerns about the legality of this ordinance."

"Besides that, it's mean-spirited," he says. "We should be embracing immigrants and helping them assimilate. We are a nation of immigrants."

Reflecting the nation's divergence of opinion on the topic, Barletta and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg - both Republicans - testified Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Philadelphia, one of several planned around the country.

While Barletta maintained that illegal immigrants have been a burden, Bloomberg insisted that his city's economy would collapse without them.

Though the Hazleton ordinance is not yet on the books, the city is feeling its effects.

Immigrants are already leaving Hazleton, according to store owners, community activists and the mayor. They're leaving because they are illegal and fear being left without work and homes, or because they are legal and fear ethnic profiling.

"The Hispanic community is very upset. They feel like this is racism," says Amilcar S. Arroyo, who publishes El Mensajero, the area's Spanish-language newspaper.

Kim Lopez, 39, says six of her customers left town last weekend because "they were scared they wouldn't be able to get work with this new law and that they'd be deported." She wonders whether the business that she's building to cater to Mexicans - one of the largest immigrant populations here - will soon be obsolete.

And on a broader level, the Lopezes and others say they worry about the future of a town that was built by one wave of immigrants and revitalized by another, reversing the city's negative population growth in recent years.

Hispanics accounted for about 3 percent of the city's 23,000 residents in the 2000 U.S. Census. City officials now estimate that about one-third of the 31,000 people here are Hispanic, though they have no idea how many are here illegally.

"Hazleton will die without immigrants," says Dr. Agapito Lopez, a retired Hazleton ophthalmologist and a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.

The mayor recently called Hazleton "Smalltown, USA." It's a fitting description for a city with one thoroughfare, Broad Street, and one public high school. There's a statue of Christopher Columbus in the center of town and neighborhoods of big, Victorian homes. The city's mottos are "Can Do!" and "The Power City."

That small-town feel, where a child can safely ride his bicycle into dusk and receive a good public education, has kept many families, including the Barlettas, in Hazleton for generations.

It's also what attracted, through word of mouth, the recent wave of immigrants from such places as the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Many work in the large factories and food-packing plants nearby.

Immigrants have opened dozens of bodegas and bought homes in areas that weren't desirable. They've taken the once-deserted Wyoming Street as their own, transforming it into a vibrant stretch of Latino businesses.

Spanish music flows from the open front door of Milagros Gift and Party Shop on Wyoming. Felix Luiz Aza, 33, who says he's a legal immigrant from Guatemala, is inside minding his wife's store and their 18-month-old daughter.

"My dream is not to be rich," he says. "It's to make enough money to help out my family."

But illegal immigrants have come here for the same reasons. Barletta says they have stretched thin the city's $7 million annual budget through using, but not paying into, taxpayer-funded services such as emergency medical care, public education, city code enforcement and police work.

And as the number of immigrants has risen, so, too has the number of violent crimes.

A 14-year old was arrested for firing a gun on a busy playground. Gang-related graffiti tags have been sprayed on homes and garages. A 29-year-old was shot between the eyes, killing him, near his home on Chestnut Street.

Those were the headlines in May, and all, Barletta says, involved illegal immigrants. It spurred him to action. The Hazleton City Council tentatively approved Barletta's proposal 4-1 in June and is expected to take a final vote Thursday.

The mayor calls his plan the "Illegal Immigrant Relief Act" and explains it in an open letter on the city's Web site.

It punishes companies with illegal employees by denying them permits and making it harder to renew permits. It fines landlords $1,000 for every illegal immigrant residing on their properties. And it makes city documents available only in English.

"Let me be clear, this ordinance is intended to make Hazleton one of the most difficult places in the U.S. for illegal immigrants," the letter states. Barletta said in an interview that he welcomes legal immigrants.

Walczak, of the ACLU, expects the ordinance to "spawn a raft of lawsuits."

"The inevitable result is that people will refrain from either employing or renting to anyone who looks and sounds like an immigrant," he says. "That's a civil rights violation on a federal and state level."

It's lunchtime at Jimmy's, and lively employees are rolling hot dogs onto a grill in the front window. Since 1937, residents have been coming to this landmark diner on Broad Street.

Jim Grohol, a lifelong Hazleton resident and grandson of the original owner, steps out of the steamy kitchen. He says Barletta's immigration reform is the talk of the town.

"All of Hazleton is basically glued to the paper," he says.

The response has been overwhelmingly favorable, Grohol says. "Mayor Barletta is well-liked. The Barlettas are a big family here - in fact, here's Lou's uncle now."

Frederick Barletta, 72, is treated as a minor celebrity as he sidles up to the lunch counter. He's eager to share stories and the family history.

"He saw a problem, and he has taken the bull by the horns," Fred Barletta says, adding that out-of-towners sing his nephew's praises. "People tell me all the time: 'I wish he was our mayor. I wish someone would do this in our town.'"

Lou Barletta, 50, has been Hazleton's mayor since 2000. He narrowly lost a 2002 election bid for a U.S. House of Representatives seat, but he attracted the attention of President Bush while on the campaign trail.

Some of Barletta's critics say his stance on immigration is a political ploy. Barletta says he never expected the attention. "I've obviously touched a nerve," he says.

He has appeared on national television and radio news programs, including Fox's O'Reilly Factor. All of this tickles Uncle Fred.

The Barletta family, he says, "started with zero, and they made a great life for themselves." One of the mayor's grandmothers and his great-grandparents immigrated legally to Hazleton from southern Italy, Fred Barletta says.

Grandparents Anthony and Angeline Barletta supported their nine children by hauling coal with a horse and wagon and opening a tiny grocery store in the house, Fred Barletta says. Within the generation, the Barlettas had built several thriving businesses.

If the government had provided everything in Italian, the Barlettas might not have learned English and prospered, Lou Barletta says, explaining why he wants to make English the city's official language.

"I'm not trying to put down a community," he says. "I'm trying to help build them up."

Barletta says he is disappointed in the negative reaction from Hispanic community leaders.

Agapito Lopez, the retired eye doctor, is one of the most outspoken critics of Barletta's plan. Lopez, who came here from Puerto Rico, says the mayor doesn't understand that he has offended the Latino community.

"We are family. If you insult part of the family, you insult the whole family," Lopez, 62, says.

Arroyo, the newspaper publisher, has a more measured view of Barletta's proposal. He says he straddles two communities, being involved in Latino culture and in old Hazleton politics as a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Arroyo says he came illegally to Miami from Peru in 1989. He arrived in Hazleton later that year, with $10 in his pocket and the promise of a job packing tomatoes. Years later, he married a native of Hazleton and put down roots.

"We remember how it is for illegal immigrants," he says. "And we feel sorry for those guys."

julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com

"Besides that, it's mean-spirited," he says. "We should be embracing immigrants and helping them assimilate. We are a nation of immigrants."

Hey ACLU, you DON'T speak for me! Why should we be embracing the illegals?

"Hazleton will die without immigrants," says Dr. Agapito Lopez, a retired Hazleton ophthalmologist and a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.

Lies, Lies and More Lies! But if you insist then, R.I.P.!

"Besides that, it's mean-spirited," he says. "We should be embracing immigrants and helping them assimilate. We are a nation of immigrants."

Why should we be helping illegals assimilate?

I am so sick of hearing the "we are a nation of immigrants" crap!!!!

Hats off to Mayor Barletta. Please keep fighting Mayor!!!

As to the illegal immigrants in Barletta who are upset with Mayor Barletta, GET OVER IT.

I'm so sick of the arrogance.

"We are family. If you insult part of the family, you insult the whole family," Lopez, 62, says.

Well, you and your illegal family need to leave, because all of you have insulted the American people with your arrogant, self-serving attitudes and we are sick of it!

Was the mayor's email address posted here? I did a bit of searching but haven't come across it yet.

One, I'd like to email my admiration for him and his strong actions.

Two, I'd like to tell him about my town, Waukegan, IL (which has swelled to 54%+ hispanics with untold 1000's illegal). I'd like to give him our mayor's email -get those two in touch.

Originally Posted by fedupinwaukegan

Was the mayor's email address posted here? I did a bit of searching but haven't come across it yet.

One, I'd like to email my admiration for him and his strong actions.

Two, I'd like to tell him about my town, Waukegan, IL (which has swelled to 54%+ hispanics with untold 1000's illegal). I'd like to give him our mayor's email -get those two in touch.

FED
it's here in one of the threads with Hazleton in the title.

Suggestion: how about printing out some of the articles about Hazleton and also the Hazleton website has the proposal in it's entirety for print out.
You could then take it all directly to your Mayor's office. Hand it to them personally!

and the pilgrim thread.

Found it. So I now offer a link incase anyone missed giving him a thumbs up for what he is doing.

http://www.hazletoncity.org/home_frameset.htm