Town sued over strict immigration law

[Ducky]

Town sued over strict immigration law By Jon Hurdle
Wed Aug 16, 8:38 AM ET



PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Civil rights campaigners sued the Pennsylvania town of Hazleton on Tuesday, seeking to block one of America's toughest local laws against illegal immigrants.

The suit says Hazelton's City Council violated the U.S. constitution when it passed a law denying business permits to companies that hire illegal aliens and fining landlords who rent homes to them.

The measure, which also establishes English as the town's official language, has made Hazleton a focus of the national debate on immigration. The plaintiffs say their suit is the first in the country to challenge a local immigration ordinance.

The suit was filed in federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania by groups including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union. They accuse Hazleton of overstepping its authority on the federal matter of immigration and say the law discriminates against immigrants.

"This mean-spirited law is wrong for many reasons but the most obvious is that the city does not have the power to make its own immigration laws," Omar Jadwat, an attorney for the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a statement.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a proponent of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance, says illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America has increased crime, overburdened schools and hospitals, and eroded the quality of life in the town of some 31,000 people.

Barletta predicted the law would survive a court challenge and said he would take it to the Supreme Court if necessary. "We're not going to be bullied," he said in a statement.

About a third of the Hazelton's residents are Hispanic, up from around 5 percent in 2000, officials say.

At the federal level, the House and Senate are trying to reconcile starkly different immigration bills that call for tougher border controls and provide routes to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

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A town takes a stand against ILLEGAL immigrants, and they're being sued. WTF???

[BEK]

This kind of liberal BS needs to stop. Whats next, sueing the Police for arresting illegals. Oh wait I tried detaining some once and INS wouldnt come get them

[TXCharlie]

And remember the border agents who were convicted after they got in a shoot-out with an illegal drug smuggler - The US government said they were not allowed to give chase without a supervisors' approval - And they convict one of them for shooting the guy after he though the smuggler had a gun and saw his partner bleeding on the ground.

Then they gave the drug trafficker immunity in exchange for his testimony. What a pile.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/articl...TICLE_ID=51417

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[Hannibal]

And we wonder why we have the problems we have here....

[MonsterMash]

Well.....the libs are wrong as usual. A city or state can't make laws LESS rigid than federal standards, however they CAN make them tougher. I agree w/the city, I believe it will stand. My hats off to them.

[TXCharlie]

But how many illegals aliens' family members will wind up on the jury?

[dlefdal]

I am a firm believer that if the US Government REALLY wanted this immigration crap to stop, it would be over in a heartbeat. All this bs with the Mexican Army and drug cartels shooting at our guys over the border and all that has got to stop.

Follow the money and you will see why this is such a big problem.

[BEK]

Building a wall isnt such a dumb idea....For refrence look at when Germany was seperated by the wall..How many mexicans got in to east germany, None. Great Idea

[Piggybank Cop]

Go Hazleton!