Hazleton, population 30,000, is a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. Last week their City Council approved a new law.
Hazleton’s ethnic population has soared in recent years. Hispanics now make up 30% of the city’s residents. “Illegal immigrants are destroying the city,” Mayor Lou Barletta said in June. “They don’t belong here.” City officials acknowledge they do not know how many illegal immigrants are in Hazleton.
A state Superior Court judge based in Hazleton is asking federal Homeland Security officials for more manpower to help the area deal with illegal immigration. Judge Correale F. Stevens, in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said county judges and local elected officials have been talking about the growing problem of illegal immigrants in northeastern Pennsylvania. Judges in the county “have been told to release illegals suspected of crimes back into the community and that [immigration enforcement] officers will not come to northeastern Pennsylvania for those suspects,” Stevens wrote.
So Hazleton has written their own law. The ordinance, the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, would deny licenses to businesses that employ illegal immigrants, fine landlords $1,000 for each illegal immigrant discovered renting their properties, and require city documents to be in English only. The ordinance passed on a 4-to-1 vote after two hours of passionate debate.
“We must draw the line, and we are doing it tonight,” Barletta told a packed council chambers.
What if the rest of the US finally came to the realization that the federal government just does not want to enforce the laws we currently have on illegals and began to take steps to do the job themselves?
1 response so far ↓
1 Jacoby // Jul 19, 2006 at 11:55 am
I aggree with Shamalama. My family came from Ireland many many years ago. But the obeyed the laws and here I am 100% legal:) I only wish my city (Dayton Ohio) would pass such a law. We all know the entire state of California needs it and needs it bad.