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Politics : ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION THE FIGHT TO KEEP OUR DEMOCRACY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (1048)	7/17/2006 1:04:24 PM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 3197

Signed – and sued? Barletta signs law targeting illegals; lawsuits promised Saturday, 15 July 2006 By ALAN GREGORY alangregory@standardspeaker.com Six pens were purchased for the ceremonial signing Friday afternoon. And Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta used each one in signing – and putting into law – the city’s new ordinance targeting illegal immigrants. Barletta, with City Council President Joseph Yannuzzi at his side, said the Illegal Immigration Relief Act became law the instant the two leaders signed the document, which City Council approved the night before, on a 4-1 vote. But he said the city would not begin for 60 days active enforcement of the ordinance that requires prospective – and current – tenants to get an occupancy permit at City Hall. Landlords that enforcement officials discover are renting to people without such permits face a $1,000-a-day fine. And employers who hire illegal immigrants could lose their business permits, city contracts or grants for five years on first offense and 10 years on second. Barletta, in signing the ordinance that’s attracted media attention from across the country, made only one or two strokes with each pen before picking up another. Yannuzzi signed the ordinance first, then the mayor. A notary public then placed the city’s seal on the document. The signing ceremony took place moments after the mayor completed what his media consultant said was a “pre-interview” with a producer for CNN anchor Lou Dobbs. Barletta was scheduled to appear on Dobbs’ show later in the day and make appearances on other shows, including Bill O’Reilly’s program on Fox News. The mayor, in speaking with reporters after signing the ordinance, defended its legality. “Our legal opinion is that we have not violated any federal laws,” Barletta said. But Foster Maer, an attorney with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, disagrees with the mayor. “We believe the ordinance does violate numerous laws and tries to take over the immigration laws [of the nation],” Maer said. He said the ordinance “imposes an English-only law that has been found [to be] illegal numerous times. Obviously we disagree with [the mayor’s] assessment.” Maer said the Legal Defense and Education Fund intends to challenge the ordinance in court. “We are reviewing that and yes we are planning to go to court,” he said. Barletta told reporters that he doesn’t believe city taxpayers would be asked to pay for any legal defense of the ordinance. He said he is sure that the city would get such help on a pro bono basis. The mayor said again that the law does not speak directly to immigration. Instead, it targets the people who “aid and abet” illegal immigrants by housing and hiring them. He said the often times sharp debate that happened the night before in the council’s chambers was a healthy exchange of opinions. But he reiterated that by enacting the ordinance he is only doing the job he was elected to perform. “I took an oath to protect” the city’s citizens, he said. Hazleton welcomes everyone, but people living in the city legally should not have to foot the bill to fund services used by individuals here illegally, the mayor said. And Barletta said again that it was the May murder – by an illegal immigrant – of Derek Kichline that forced his hand. He said other recent crimes involving illegal immigrants also led him to draft the law, basing it on a similar act proposed in San Bernardino, Calif. That city’s effort is hung up in a ballot referendum legal challenge. Other cities, meanwhile, are following Hazleton’s lead. Barletta and Yannuzzi said it will take two months to train City Hall employees, through the code enforcement department, on enforcing the law. And the mayor said he will consult with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. There are “multiple ways” in which the ordinance will be enforced, he said. The mayor said he has not yet talked with CAN DO Inc. or individual employers. Barletta on Friday again defended the ordinance – just as Councilwoman Evelyn Graham had the night before – as a matter of law and order, not of racism as others have charged. The ordinance’s English-language requirement is an attempt at bringing people together, not dividing them, the mayor said. “We’re divided more when we can’t communicate” with each other due to language barriers, he said.