Posted on 6/20/2006, 11:41:02 AM by cbkaty
Pennsylvania town presses for a crackdown against hiring or leasing to illegal immigrants
HAZLETON, PA. - With tensions rising and the police department and municipal budget stretched thin, Hazleton is about to embark on one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Last week, the mayor of this former coal town introduced, and the City Council tentatively approved, a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants; impose $1,000 fines on landlords who lease to illegal immigrants; and make English the official language of the city.
"Illegal immigrants are destroying the city," said Mayor Lou Barletta, a Republican. "I don't want them here, period."
Barletta said he had no choice but to act after two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged last month with shooting and killing a 29-year-old man. Other recent incidents involving illegal immigrants have rattled this city 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, including the arrest of a 14-year-old boy for firing a gun at a playground.
"This is crazy," the mayor said. "People are afraid to walk the streets. There's going to be law and order back in Hazleton, and I'm going to use every tool I possibly can."
Enforcement on local level The City Council, which approved the measure in a 4-1 vote, must vote on it twice more before it can become law. The next vote is scheduled for mid-July.
When Barletta took office in 2000, Hispanics represented about 5 percent of the city's population of 23,000. The population has since shot up to 31,000, with Hispanics now representing 30 percent, lured to Hazleton by cheap housing, a lower cost of living and jobs in nearby plants, factories and farms.
City officials do not know how many of the new arrivals are in the U.S. illegally, but say they are fueling the drug trade, joining gangs and committing other crimes.
Municipal officials around the nation, frustrated at what they perceive as the federal government's inability to stem illegal immigration, have increasingly taken matters into their own hands:
•San Bernardino, Calif., voters will decide whether to adopt a measure nearly identical to the one in Hazleton. •An Idaho county filed a racketeering lawsuit against agricultural companies accused of hiring illegal immigrants.
•In New Hampshire, a pair of police chiefs began arresting illegal immigrants for trespassing. "They're being forced to pick up the financial tab for all of this nonsense, and they are doing whatever they can to find ways to combat it at the local level," said Susan Tully, national field director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates limits on immigration. "This is a fine example of what I'm talking about."
Getting mixed reactions
Flavia Jimenez, an immigrant policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, predicted the Hazleton crackdown would prompt a civil rights lawsuit.
"Landlords are going to shut their doors to anyone who may look or sound Latino," she said. "On the other hand, landlords may attempt to actually determine whether a person is undocumented or not, and make multiple mistakes because of the complexity of immigration law."
Whites in Hazleton seem to overwhelmingly favor the proposed crackdown. Barletta's office has been flooded with hundreds of approving e-mails and phone calls."It's about time," said Francis X. Tucci, 57, who was born in Hazleton and owns a hair salon in the heart of the Hispanic business district. "We were a nice community. You find bad everywhere, I understand that, but we're talking about here and now."
Some Hispanics approve of the measure, saying they are fed up with crime and graffiti. Others view the proposal as unnecessary, saying that most illegal immigrants obey the law and only want to work. Jose Lechuga, 42, came to the United States illegally in 1982, received amnesty in 1986 and now operates a grocery store and restaurant in Hazleton. He said the mayor is "confusing illegal people with criminals."
Hmmmmm........I don't think there is any confusion.....
It's getting bad here in the York-Lancaster area, too. There's going to be a *blow-up* coming as a result.
This is good news. People are beginning to wake up. Wonder how long it will take the RINOs to hear the thunder?
aberdeen and edgewood, md.. gangs are at war too
They WILL be voting in the next election....and the leftist battle cry will make the hanging-chad debacle look like child's play.
They are responsible for a huge rise in gang-related violence and murder in the Houston area too....
look for ACLU to be jettng in
Illegal - Criminal?
Is - Is?
Tis a conundrum, eh?
We have the same problem here in New Hampshire, except our immigrants are from Massachusetts.
Hmmmmm........I don't think there is any confusion.....
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There is no difference at all, in fact when they crossed that border ILLEGALLY they became criminals. Don't look for any help for America and its real citizens from Washington -- they are useless and don't give a damn about our soverignty and our laws, except when YOU, a legal American citizen breaks them, then YOU GO TO JAIL. A real sickening double standard courtesy of our corrupt politicians.
This is going to get real ugly.
Now that's serious....immediate suppressive action required....
The invasion of America, continues...
...most illegal immigrants obey the law...Which part of illegal am I misunderstanding here?
Once they take control of local governments (it's happening in border towns now) it's all over...end of story.
ping
Bump, drugs, gangs, crime and filth. Thanks a lot W.
[[He said the mayor is "confusing illegal people with criminals."]]
Illegal people ARE criminals. And if you are found aiding and abetting these criminals, then you need your citizenship revoked because it is clear by your words that you are on their side.
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