AuGmENTor
07-15-2006, 07:47 AM
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-07-14T225457Z_01_N1470430_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
By Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania town that passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the United States this week overstepped its authority, said a civil-liberties group which announced plans on Friday to sue.
The city council of Hazleton, a former coal-mining town of some 31,000 people, late on Thursday passed a measure that will deny a business permit to anyone hiring illegal immigrants. It also imposes a $1,000 fine on any landlord who rents to illegal immigrants, and establishes English as the town's official language.
The ordinance states that illegal immigration leads to higher crime rates, overcrowded classrooms and failing schools, imposes a financial burden on hospitals and reduces the quality of other public services in the town.
Hazleton boomed under a wave of Eastern European immigrants in the late 1800s, and has experienced a surge of Hispanic immigration in recent years.
The townspeople are suffering from "the debilitating effects on their economic and social well being imposed by the influx of illegal aliens," the regulation says, and the city has the authority to punish those who aid illegal aliens.
A coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents U.S. Latinos on immigration issues, say they will sue Hazleton in federal court. Lee Llambelis, legal director of the Fund, said the suit will argue that the ordinance erodes the federal government's power to regulate immigration.
"The immigration issue can't be solved on a town-by-town basis," she told Reuters.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said an influx of illegal immigrants has burdened the town's budget and he vowed to fight the suit. "We will fight them in court. I can't sit back and watch our city being destroyed."
Barletta told Reuters that since the ordinance passed he has received about 8,000 e-mails of support sent from every U.S. state. Llambelis said similar regulations have been proposed by San Bernardino, California and Avon Park, Florida, but that she believes Hazleton is the first city to have enacted such a law. Thus, civil liberties groups view the suit as a test case.
"The law pits neighbor against neighbor and only serves to heighten tension with Hispanics in the town," she said. About 30 percent of Hazleton's population is Latino, up from around 5 percent in 2000.
At least 57 immigration-related bills have been passed by U.S. state legislatures in 2006, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.
A recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to South Philadelphia prompted the Italian-American owner of Geno's Cheese Steaks, a renowned local eatery, to put up a sign demanding that customers order in English.
The city of Philadelphia is challenging the sign. In Colorado, a new law prohibits state agencies from working with contractors who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. An Oklahoma law requires anyone wanting to become a police officer to produce proof of U.S. citizenship.
The two houses of the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress are trying to reconcile starkly different immigration bills.
A bill passed by the House of Representatives focuses on cracking down on illegal immigration. A Senate bill would bolster enforcement and provide a way for illegal immigrants to become citizens. Barletta told a Philadelphia hearing of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Hazleton's ordinance had been introduced in response to two murders in the town committed by illegal immigrants
By Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania town that passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the United States this week overstepped its authority, said a civil-liberties group which announced plans on Friday to sue.
The city council of Hazleton, a former coal-mining town of some 31,000 people, late on Thursday passed a measure that will deny a business permit to anyone hiring illegal immigrants. It also imposes a $1,000 fine on any landlord who rents to illegal immigrants, and establishes English as the town's official language.
The ordinance states that illegal immigration leads to higher crime rates, overcrowded classrooms and failing schools, imposes a financial burden on hospitals and reduces the quality of other public services in the town.
Hazleton boomed under a wave of Eastern European immigrants in the late 1800s, and has experienced a surge of Hispanic immigration in recent years.
The townspeople are suffering from "the debilitating effects on their economic and social well being imposed by the influx of illegal aliens," the regulation says, and the city has the authority to punish those who aid illegal aliens.
A coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents U.S. Latinos on immigration issues, say they will sue Hazleton in federal court. Lee Llambelis, legal director of the Fund, said the suit will argue that the ordinance erodes the federal government's power to regulate immigration.
"The immigration issue can't be solved on a town-by-town basis," she told Reuters.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said an influx of illegal immigrants has burdened the town's budget and he vowed to fight the suit. "We will fight them in court. I can't sit back and watch our city being destroyed."
Barletta told Reuters that since the ordinance passed he has received about 8,000 e-mails of support sent from every U.S. state. Llambelis said similar regulations have been proposed by San Bernardino, California and Avon Park, Florida, but that she believes Hazleton is the first city to have enacted such a law. Thus, civil liberties groups view the suit as a test case.
"The law pits neighbor against neighbor and only serves to heighten tension with Hispanics in the town," she said. About 30 percent of Hazleton's population is Latino, up from around 5 percent in 2000.
At least 57 immigration-related bills have been passed by U.S. state legislatures in 2006, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.
A recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to South Philadelphia prompted the Italian-American owner of Geno's Cheese Steaks, a renowned local eatery, to put up a sign demanding that customers order in English.
The city of Philadelphia is challenging the sign. In Colorado, a new law prohibits state agencies from working with contractors who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. An Oklahoma law requires anyone wanting to become a police officer to produce proof of U.S. citizenship.
The two houses of the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress are trying to reconcile starkly different immigration bills.
A bill passed by the House of Representatives focuses on cracking down on illegal immigration. A Senate bill would bolster enforcement and provide a way for illegal immigrants to become citizens. Barletta told a Philadelphia hearing of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Hazleton's ordinance had been introduced in response to two murders in the town committed by illegal immigrants