Thread: PA - Illegals not yet an issue here, but it may be coming

http://www.sungazette.com/news/articles ... leID=11411

Illegals not yet an issue here, but it may be coming

By R.A. WALKER rwalker@sungazette.com

The ghost of Santa Anna has come north into Penns Woods.

Small Pennsylvania cities, like Hazleton, are on alert and manning the barricades in response to the arrival of illegal immigrants — most from south of the border and, despite lacking a few legal documents, just like those who arrived in waves in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Is this city next? Will its leaders and citizens soon find in their midst a new influx to tax social services with their poverty and vulnerability?

Hazleton captured the nation’s attention recently with an ordinance that would make it a crime for a landlord to house or an employer to hire anyone who is not legally in the country.

The ordinance, which reportedly led to the sudden departure of many of that city’s Spanish-language residents, is on hold by a federal judge’s order because of a court challenge that will be decided in a Scranton federal courtroom.

In the meantime, other cities, including Williamsport, are watching.

Here, the issue has been all but ignored by most public officials.

But don’t count City Councilman Gabriel J. Campana among them. He has publicly expressed concern about the possibility illegals seeking greener pastures in the north might begin to settle in and around this city. He even traveled to Hazleton earlier this year and met with its mayor to gain more insight into how community leaders there reacted.

When he returned, Campana spoke out on the topic at a public safety meeting and briefly brought it up during a council meeting, but has said little in recent months.

Asked for his thoughts last week since a federal judge had forbidden enforcement of the Hazleton ordinance until after the trial, Campana said the judge is wrong and called his interference “judicial abuse.”

“I support Hazleton 100 percent,” he said, promising to propose a similar ordinance here “if I see any evidence of that type of activity happening in Williamsport.”

The councilman also said he is not opposed to immigration as long as the new arrivals are in the country legally, but he said the bottom line remains that anyone here illegally, whether they’re from “Mexico or Italy or Ireland,” is committing a crime.

For now, Campana is watching and waiting, and isn’t ready to propose new legislation because he said it would have no chance of passing council.

“I don’t believe that we need to enact anything now,” he said. However, if and when there is “an indication of (illegals) coming into Williamsport,” he said he would propose an ordinance.

Campana said he raised the issue to make people aware of what could happen. “It’s happened in other areas of Pennsylvania,” he said, and its arrival here “could be only a matter of time.”

In the meantime, he urged city officials to keep tabs on Hazleton and other communities in the region already dealing with the problem and monitor “what happens close to us.”

Councilman James Gilbert has agreed with Campana on other issues, but said this week he isn’t in favor of creating a new ordinance “until we have an issue.”

Gilbert is an emergency medical technician, and the public safety profession often sees early signs of social change. According to Gilbert, there have been no indicators to date of the arrival of illegal aliens locally.

District Attorney Michael A. Dinges also said he has noted no such trend, and County Prison Warden Kevin DeParlos said the only “illegals” that have been detained by local law enforcement were two Mongolians who got into a knife fight between themselves and when arrested were found to be in the country illegally.

William Nichols Jr., the city’s director of administration, said an ordinance like Hazleton’s is “not a priority” at this time.

“It may rise to that in years to come,” he said, “(but) we have a lot of other issues that are much more important.”

Those issues “are very well know,” he added, and illegal aliens just are “not one of them.”

The issues Nichols referred to include a city budget that is stretched tight, a wide-range of economic development projects involving the downtown and central parts of the city and the regional medical center project underway by Susquehanna Health System.

Nichols and City Controller Rose Choate don’t always see eye to eye, but Choate said she is unsure if illegal immigration is an issue the city should get involved with at this point.

“Usually, I have an opinion about everything,” she said, “but I don’t know if (Hazleton’s) right or not.”

Section: News Posted: 11/12/2006

Nichols and City Controller Rose Choate don’t always see eye to eye, but Choate said she is unsure if illegal immigration is an issue the city should get involved with at this point.

That's right wait until it smacks you in the face. Think it wil be easier to deal with then? Anyway just because they are not out protesting in the streets doesn't mean they are not there. While the numbers may not be as big as other states yet check you grocery stores and school enrollments.

Originally Posted by AlturaCt

Nichols and City Controller Rose Choate don’t always see eye to eye, but Choate said she is unsure if illegal immigration is an issue the city should get involved with at this point.

That's right wait until it smacks you in the face. Think it wil be easier to deal with then? Anyway just because they are not out protesting in the streets doesn't mean they are not there. While the numbers may not be as big as other states yet check you grocery stores and school enrollments.

I live in PA and when my city was considering the illegal ordinance, there were people who had the same attitude. They thought that since there was no discernable problem with illegals, that the time spent reviewing and voting on the illegal ordinance could have been better spent on more important things--like the overhauling of our garbage collection system!
These people are clueless as to the effects of illegal immigration on a community. I was one who pointed out the downside of waiting until the problem gets out of control.

Thankfully, our city council was proactive and passed the ordinance. But, there are a lot of short sighted people out there who don't care about an issue until it is right in their living room. Then, sometimes it is to late.