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Hazleton (PA) versus the ACLU

A U.S. trial that starts Monday will be the first to explore just how far local governments can go in trying to fight illegal immigration, a highly sensitive subject in the United States.

This city made national headlines when it tried to penalize the landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and the businesses who give them jobs.

An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the U.S., and dozens of other communities have tried to find ways to contain them, including proposing English-only measures and working with immigration authorities to report illegal residents. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress continues to debate the issue at large.

Republican Mayor Lou Barletta, who pushed through the laws, said illegal immigrants were joining gangs, dealing drugs, committing violent crimes and destroying the quality of life in this city of 31,000.

"We're not only fighting for Hazleton, we're fighting for cities all across America," he said.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and Hispanic groups, which filed suit against the city, call the measures divisive and racist and say they trample on the U.S. government's exclusive power to regulate immigration.

U.S. District Judge James Munley has barred enforcement of the laws pending trial, but even the threat of action has led many Hispanics to flee the city, and businesses that cater to them report plummeting sales.

"The city of Hazleton is promoting discrimination," said Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director. Yep, can't discriminate against law breakers.)

In court papers, Hazleton said illegal immigrants have committed at least 47 crimes since last spring — including the shooting death of a 29-year-old man — consuming much of the city's police overtime budget. Illegal immigrants were the subject of one-third of all drug arrests in 2005, and they have driven up the costs of health care and education, the city said.

The city's remedy, the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, would impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that employ them. The law empowers the city to investigate written complaints about a person's immigration status, using a federal database. Ethnicity may be used as a basis for making a complaint, as long as it is not the sole or primary factor.

A companion measure requires tenants to register with City Hall.

Critics say if the Hazleton measures are allowed to stand, white residents will be suspicious of every Hispanic they see.

"Every Latino will be a target," said Cesar A. Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of the groups filing suit. "The significance of Hazleton is about stopping this anti-immigrant movement dead in its tracks." Notice it says anti-imigrant. They purposefully want everyone to overlook the fact that it is ILLEGAL immigrants that are being targeted by the government. It goes right along with their desire to have open borders, terrorists and criminals treated like citizens and law abiding citizens treated like criminals and terrorists.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sided with the ACLU, arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that if cities were permitted to enforce their own immigration laws, businesses would have to comply with a "patchwork of different and potentially inconsistent obligations."

But Judicial Watch, a Washington-based conservative legal group, said in its own brief that the ordinances "are in harmony with federal law, not at odds with it" because they rely on the federal government's own standards on who may be in the country.

This is a much bigger problem than what most people think it is. We arrested illegal aliens during the early 70s when I entered law enforcement. We notified immigration and they were picked up for deportation. At that time, the Federal government at least helped to pay for the food and other expenses in housing the illegal aliens until they were picked up. The time frames before they were picked up got longer and longer, and the Federal government stopped helping pay the costs, so all of the costs were paid from inadequate local budgets. Needless to say, it wasn't long before we were ordered to stop arresting illegal aliens. The wait for immigration to pick them up turned into weeks and months. Eventually, immigration stopped coming to pick them up at all and simply left us with all the bills.

Local and county jail budgets would have to be increased to deal with illegal aliens. There would obviously have to be more cooperation from immigration because it would be impossible to feed and house them forever. Nearly all facilities would also quickly run out of room and take up space needed for other categories of criminals. Space and budgets are already a massive problem, so cooperation from immigration is the only way I can see this problem can be addressed.

It's important to note that there is a huge list of budget-busting costs that are directly tied to illegal aliens. It would be MUCH cheaper to arrest and deport the illegal aliens immediately. Realistically, this is the only wise thing to do. We MUST have respect for our borders and our laws. All of the arguments against strict enforcement really boil down to being ridiculous and void of any sanity or reality. This is before one even considers the dope, guns, criminals, and violence directly tied to illegal aliens. This is also before considering costs of health, education, and a host of other services that are budget-busting around the country.

Overall, it should be criminal for the Federal government to ignore this problem. It's GROSS dereliction of duty, and our officials responsible for this duty need to be fired and put in prison. Please note that local, county, and state law enforcement can't be held responsible for this problem unless the law is changed to allow these levels of governments to immediately deport the illegal aliens without waiting for Federal immigration authorities. It must be recognized that the complete blame rests with the Federal government.

I pray the town of Hazelton prevails, and I applaud them for aggressively fighting for the rights of legal citizens of their community.  What on earth is our government thinking?  Not only have we made it as easy as possible for those seeking employment to enter this country, but we have left the door wide open for terrorists.  Our elected officials are in those positions to represent "our" best interests, and to protect "this" country.  Unfortunately, they are more interested in appeasing the Mexican government and accommodating those who enter this country illegally.  The notion that anyone opposed to "illegal" immigration is a racist, is merely propaganda being used by big business and special interest groups to support their ridiculous stance.  They are making huge profits from employing illegal aliens, and will stop at nothing to ensure the influx continues. Of course, they would argue that the illegals are doing work that Americans don't want.  That is total nonsense!  No, the average American worker does not want to work for the substandard wages they pay the illegals. This situation is not only criminal, but it is bankrupting the middle class.

Legal citizens of this country are prosecuted and jailed for breaking the law.  Illegal aliens are coddled and represented by the ACLU, the Chamber of Commerce and members of Congress.  What's wrong with this picture? 



 

Calling evil good and good evil.

Amen!