I think Jeff was from Hazleton before he got married!
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Pa. town enforces illegal immigrant rule By MARK SCOLFORO,
Associated Press
HAZLETON, Pa. - The mayor signed a city ordinance Friday that punishes people who do business with illegal immigrants or provide them with jobs or housing, while critics said it was unenforceable and predicted it will be overturned.
Mayor Lou Barletta said his office will soon begin to train city workers in how to check people's immigration or citizenship status after the city council on Thursday passed one of the nation's strictest ordinances to fight illegal immigration on a 4-to-1 vote.
He also expects the City Council to approve a companion measure requiring all tenants to register with the city and prove their legal residency.
"We're also going to be talking with Immigration and Customs (Enforcement) to see if possibly we could receive some assistance," said Barletta, who said he wore a bulletproof vest to the vote as a precaution because the issue was emotionally charged.
The ordinance fines landlords $1,000 per day for each illegal immigrant living on their properties.
Lee Llambelis, legal director of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, said her organization will file a lawsuit that will claim the ordinance violates the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration.
"Do I have confidence that employees of the City of Hazleton will be able to implement this policy in a way that makes sense? Absolutely not," Llambelis said.
Barletta, a Republican, has said he proposed the law to address crime, school crowding, hospital costs and demands for city services that he attributes to an influx of illegal immigrants in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of about 31,000 residents.
The measure has divided the city, with many longtime residents supporting Barletta, but the growing Latino community largely opposed to it.
Other municipalities across the country also have considered acting to address illegal immigration. Ordinances similar to the Hazleton measure have been proposed in the Florida communities of Palm Bay and Avon Park and the California towns of Escondido and San Bernardino.
"It's looking like we're going to see a tidal wave of local governments stepping up to the plate on handling illegal immigration on the local level," said Joseph Turner, who proposed an ordinance similar to Hazleton's in San Bernardino, Calif. "And I believe it's going to put enormous pressure on the federal government to finally act."
Arizona, Colorado and California are among the states that have acted unilaterally to control undocumented immigration, said Gabriel Escobar, who co-authored a national survey of Hispanics released Thursday that found most believe the national immigration-policy debate has increased discrimination.
"What people are realizing, and what Hazleton and other communities like Hazleton are a sign of, is that even though this is entirely a federal responsibility, the effects of immigration are felt most acutely on the local level," said Escobar, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
The vote in Hazleton will alienate the influx of thousands of Hispanic residents whose arrival has revitalized the town, said Lazaro Fuentes, board chairman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of the Lehigh Valley, an organization of about 200 businesses 35 miles southeast of Hazleton.
"This is politicization of a hot topic right now, and enforcing it is about as enforceable as the fact that you leave your house without $2 in your pocket and you can be arrested for vagrancy," he said.
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Pa. town enforces illegal immigrant rule By MARK SCOLFORO,
Associated Press
HAZLETON, Pa. - The mayor signed a city ordinance Friday that punishes people who do business with illegal immigrants or provide them with jobs or housing, while critics said it was unenforceable and predicted it will be overturned.
Mayor Lou Barletta said his office will soon begin to train city workers in how to check people's immigration or citizenship status after the city council on Thursday passed one of the nation's strictest ordinances to fight illegal immigration on a 4-to-1 vote.
He also expects the City Council to approve a companion measure requiring all tenants to register with the city and prove their legal residency.
"We're also going to be talking with Immigration and Customs (Enforcement) to see if possibly we could receive some assistance," said Barletta, who said he wore a bulletproof vest to the vote as a precaution because the issue was emotionally charged.
The ordinance fines landlords $1,000 per day for each illegal immigrant living on their properties.
Lee Llambelis, legal director of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, said her organization will file a lawsuit that will claim the ordinance violates the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration.
"Do I have confidence that employees of the City of Hazleton will be able to implement this policy in a way that makes sense? Absolutely not," Llambelis said.
Barletta, a Republican, has said he proposed the law to address crime, school crowding, hospital costs and demands for city services that he attributes to an influx of illegal immigrants in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of about 31,000 residents.
The measure has divided the city, with many longtime residents supporting Barletta, but the growing Latino community largely opposed to it.
Other municipalities across the country also have considered acting to address illegal immigration. Ordinances similar to the Hazleton measure have been proposed in the Florida communities of Palm Bay and Avon Park and the California towns of Escondido and San Bernardino.
"It's looking like we're going to see a tidal wave of local governments stepping up to the plate on handling illegal immigration on the local level," said Joseph Turner, who proposed an ordinance similar to Hazleton's in San Bernardino, Calif. "And I believe it's going to put enormous pressure on the federal government to finally act."
Arizona, Colorado and California are among the states that have acted unilaterally to control undocumented immigration, said Gabriel Escobar, who co-authored a national survey of Hispanics released Thursday that found most believe the national immigration-policy debate has increased discrimination.
"What people are realizing, and what Hazleton and other communities like Hazleton are a sign of, is that even though this is entirely a federal responsibility, the effects of immigration are felt most acutely on the local level," said Escobar, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
The vote in Hazleton will alienate the influx of thousands of Hispanic residents whose arrival has revitalized the town, said Lazaro Fuentes, board chairman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of the Lehigh Valley, an organization of about 200 businesses 35 miles southeast of Hazleton.
"This is politicization of a hot topic right now, and enforcing it is about as enforceable as the fact that you leave your house without $2 in your pocket and you can be arrested for vagrancy," he said.
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