Thread: Hazleton Mayor expects ‘lively debate’ with Senate panel

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Mayor expects ‘lively debate’ with Senate panel
Monday, 03 July 2006
By L.A. TARONE
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta expects a rough time when he testifies in front of three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday in Philadelphia.

“I’m ready for it,” Barletta said. “I expect very lively debate.”
Barletta is one of three offering testimony to Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.; concerning the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform package.

The hearing will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Independence Hall, Philadelphia.

Others testifying are New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson.

The “comprehensive immigration package” the Senate passed ran into a brick wall in the House. Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he won’t even bring it up for a vote.

The House passed its own immigration package that is much tougher. The Senate package includes a “path to citizenship” that allows illegals already in the country to “earn” citizenship by promising to learn English (though it contains no penalty for failure) and by paying back taxes they may owe for three of the last five years.

Critics, including many House Republicans, have called that “amnesty” and have mounted vehement opposition. The House package gave no breaks on back taxes and initially had those in the country illegally labeled as felons.

Specter and Kennedy were among those who guided the softer Senate package through the chamber. Both are considered “doves” on immigration. Sessions was among a handful of Senate opponents, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., among them, who favored the House’s tougher approach.

Barletta’s “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” has gotten the attention of the committee.

Barletta expects Sessions to be supportive; Specter and Kennedy to oppose it.

“I think my experience on a local level may be enlightening to some of them,” Barletta said. “They talk about walls and amnesty, but we live with it everyday. I think I can bring a different perspective, that of everyday experience, to the guest worker program question.

“We’re dealing with two different problems,” Barletta added. “There are those who snuck in and are working and those who came here illegally and are committing other illegal acts – crime, selling drugs, things like that. The guest worker program isn’t going do anything about those – and those are the kind of illegal immigrants we’ve arrested in Hazleton.”

He noted those arrested in the May 10 murder of Derek Kichline were here illegally from the Dominican Republic, adding, “I’m sure they didn’t come here through Mexico.”

A handful of other illegals have also been arrested in high-profile crimes in town this year.

“They can build a wall up to the sky, but when there are people sneaking in not through Mexico, but other ways, it won’t help at all,” Barletta said. “When they talk about sealing the border, that has to mean everything – not just the border with Mexico, but airports, seaports; everything. There is a lot more to it than just the southern border.”
While the differences between the House and Senate approach created an impasse, late this past week, there was word on Capitol Hill that the Senate might be willing to first discuss border security separately and save discussion on the guest worker program and “earned citizenship” for another time.

But whether that would have the support of the Bush administration is to be seen. President Bush said he wants a “comprehensive” package that includes a guest worker program and the rest. However, his approach has landed him in the catbird seat with many in his own party who think he’s’ been too lenient regarding immigration and border security.

A report that surfaced recently indicted border security enforcement under the Bush administration is weak. The report shows that in 1999, under former President Bill Clinton, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated fines against 417 companies that violated immigration law. But in 2004, under the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fines were issued to just three companies.

Barletta’s day in Philadelphia isn’t over after the Senate field hearing. He will appear in a documentary on the controversy surrounding Geno’s – a renowned South Philly eatery that attracted national attention when it posted a sign reading, “This is America: When Ordering Please Speak English.”

The controversy seemed to die down when Philadelphia Mayor John Street said critics of Geno’s were “making a mountain out of a molehill.” But Saturday, there was a protest there, as a small organized group showed up and tried to order in Spanish.

Following that, Barletta will meet with several labor unions that have offered support for his “Illegal Immigration Relief Act.”

Just as a point of clarification I think we should be HAMMERING ON in this debate.

The back tax criteria are bogus...they repay three of the last five years, and if they owe anything for OTHER YEARS, that is forgiven....it amounts to a TAX HOLIDAY.

However, and far more importantly....waving two years in BACK TAXES will more than COVER THE COST of the supposed penalty they are going to have to pay...in short, we the taxpayers are if you look at it, giving them the money to pay the fine by virtue of their FREE PASS on two years of taxes.

I want 2 years tax free!!!!!