Versions of Hazleton’s immigration law reverberate in cities nationwide
BY L.A. TARONE
STAFF WRITER
02/17/2008

Mayor Lou Barletta’s congressional run has again shined the spotlight on Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act and several copycat versions adopted nationwide.

The city’s law was struck down last July by U.S. Judge James M. Munley in Middle District Court in Scranton. In a 206-page opinion, he ruled the act violated the Equal Protection provision of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, federal immigration law and due process.

The city has appealed that decision to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

But nationally, laws based on Hazleton’s have had significantly different fates.

On Feb. 1, U.S. Judge E. Richard Webber upheld a similar law in Valley Park, Mo., a St. Louis suburb of about 6,500 people.

As in Hazleton, the laws in Valley Park underwent several changes. Valley Park City Council passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act and a landlords’ ordinance, similar to Hazleton’s. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged both ordinances and a St. Louis County judge agreed with the plaintiffs. Council repealed the landlords’ ordinance but left the immigration act, which penalizes businesses that hire illegal immigrants, in place. It also appealed the initial court decision to federal court and won.

Law professor Kris Kobach, who is the lead on Hazleton’s legal defense team, acted in the same capacity for Valley Park.

Webber, in his 57-page opinion, ruled the ordinance was a municipal permit law and not an attempt to intervene in federal immigration law, throwing out the ACLU’s biggest argument. In fact, the decision was a complete win for the city. Plaintiffs made several arguments; Webber rejected them all.

“The Court is weary of finding a law pre-empted simply because it is passed as an addition to an existing licensing scheme, rather than as an entirely new licensing law,â€