Hazleton lawyers get their shot this week
BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER
03/19/2007

Last week, opponents of Hazleton’s illegal-immigration ordinance told their side of the story.


The city will have its chance to do the same as week two of the trial begins today at 9 a.m. in the William J. Nealon Federal Building.

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs suing to have the Hazleton ordinance declared void presented most of their case last week. They anticipate finishing their list of witnesses early this week.

The city expects to call its first expert witness this morning to testify to the negative impact of illegal immigration. City attorneys said they will call more experts through the week to support city officials’ reasons for passing the ordinance, which sets penalties for employers and landlords who do business with illegal immigrants.

“The first week, you really heard the plaintiffs make their best case for how they believe the ordinance caused harm,” city attorney Kris Kobach said. “This week, you’ll really hear the defense making its case.”

Last week, the plaintiffs’ attorneys called all the witnesses.

They began with testimony from several Hispanic residents of Hazleton, who shared, often through a translator, how the ordinance affected their lives.

So when Mayor Lou Barletta took the stand Wednesday, the trial was three days old, the national media rush of the first day had almost disappeared and the mayor was under cross-examination, limiting his opportunity to stump for his side of the debate.

Since the plaintiffs have already called most of the defendant’s witnesses — including Mr. Barletta and several other officials — the city’s attorneys expect to put only seven people on the stand.

Five will be experts, starting with Harvard professor George Borjas, who will testify to how illegal immigration lowers wages for authorized workers. The rest of the experts will testify to the impact of illegal immigration on taxpayers, municipal services or crime.

While those individuals will speak more generally about the effects of illegal immigration, two Hazleton police officers will testify specifically to their experiences with crime and gang activity. Detective Christopher Orozco, who heads Hazleton’s gang investigations, should back one of the city’s key arguments: Illegal immigration has fueled the rise of several gangs and violence, making the ordinance necessary.

The mayor was followed to the witness stand last week by more city officials, whom the plaintiffs’ attorneys often portrayed as unprepared to enforce the ordinance. As a result, violations of civil and constitutional rights are likely to occur, they argued, particularly to Hispanics.

And despite also conceding a lack of statistics and research to support the need for the ordinance, the city’s case held up well under the circumstances, Mr. Kobach said. He thought Mr. Barletta did well on the stand.

Stories of hardship from members of the Latino community were countered by questioning whether they could prove their misfortune was a direct result of the ordinance. Most could do so only anecdotally, not with provable statistics or facts, Mr. Kobach said.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers also believe they built a solid case.

“The most important part of the first week was beginning to establish a more accurate picture of what is actually happening in Hazleton,” said Witold J. Walczak, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union. “It seems that undocumented immigrants have been unfairly blamed for the city’s many problems.”

Aside from their expert witnesses, the plaintiffs have one more city official to call for cross-examination — Police Chief Robert Ferdinand. He will be questioned at length about the crime statistics he compiled at the request of the plaintiffs last week.

The numbers show illegal immigrants are known to have committed fewer than 30 crimes in the past six years out of about 8,600 total in the city for the period. Out of more than 200 rapes, robberies and homicides in the same time, illegal immigrants were found to have committed two.

Chief Ferdinand could be called late today or early Tuesday, possibly as the plaintiffs’ final witness.

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