N.J. town rescinds immigration law, but Brazilians stay away

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 3092.story
By MATTHEW VERRINDER Associated Press Writer
1:34 PM EDT, September 22, 2007

RIVERSIDE, N.J. - It was a wildly controversial law that was never enforced and recently erased, and it forced Brazilian immigrants from this small industrial town to flee for places where they felt more welcome.

Many who left last year for nearby northeast Philadelphia refuse to come back, even though the town on Monday rescinded its law against illegal immigration because it doesn't have the money to defend it against civil rights lawsuits.

"People used to spit on the ground when the Brazilians would walk by," said Ronaldo Empke, a Philadelphia language school owner who teaches 200 Brazilian immigrants English. "Riverside is unbearable for them. They say they are never going back."

When Riverside enacted the law in July of last year, it set fines of $1,000 for first-time offenders who knowingly hired or rented apartments to illegal immigrants. It was spurred by constant complaints from residents that they took up parking, didn't pay taxes, and lived 10- or 15-deep in apartments.

The law was never enforced, however, as civil rights and business groups sued. The ordinance was ended Monday by a town council vote, after officials realized the legal bills might be far too steep and saw that a judge ruled in July that a similar law in Hazleton, Pa., was unconstitutional.

"The cost to continue fighting this would have been astronomical and we need a new town hall and new streets," said Deputy Mayor Lorraine Hatcher. "The writing was on the wall: It's a federal issue."

Now, the town is left with many vacant apartments and sparsely shopped stores along its main drag, Scott Street. Many in Riverside, which had about 8,000 residents before the ordinance, think the population of the town may have dropped by thousands as mostly Brazilian illegal immigrants went elsewhere.

Some merchants think that the life brought by the newcomers had as much to do with a fledgling revitalization as a Camden-to-Trenton train line that rolled into town 2{ years ago, bringing hope of a new vitality to a place where plenty of storefronts were vacant.

"When they left, some of the businesses that were supported by them lost 70 percent of their business and many were forced to close," said Ed Robins, the owner of Scott Street Music. "They spent $50,000 a week on this street. We drove off what was generating the life blood of the town."

Many of the Brazilians, who came here in the last 10 years after a wave of Portuguese immigrants in the 1970s, just lived in Riverside, residents and business owners say. During the day, they would travel to Maryland, Delaware, or central Pennsylvania to work long hours, mainly as carpenters framing and building houses.

"A lot of them I talked to wanted to stay," Robins said. "People here think, 'Oh they just want to make money here and send it back,' but a lot of them have a true love and passion for America. They're your stereotypical immigrant, no matter what generation we are. They are going to be very cautious to come back."

Marcus Carroll, the only member of the township committee to vote against rescinding the law, said the law successfully drove unwanted residents away.

"You can go home now and find a place to park," he said.

Many of the regulars in this lush town on the banks of the Delaware River just across the waterway from Philadelphia refuse to talk about the issue, saying that they're too tired of the topic. Those who do, say the Brazilians were hardworking people who brought more culture to the working-class town.

"I wouldn't come back either," said Luis Ordonez, a U.S. citizen from Ecuador who owns the River Dance Music Store on Scott Street. "Do you want to live in a place where you are not welcome?"