Immigration Crackdown In Pennsylvania
May this be a model for more reforms to come.
AP reports: “With tensions rising and the police department and municipal budget stretched thin, Hazleton is about to embark on one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants anywhere in the United States.”
Last week the mayor of this former coal town introduced, and the City Council tentatively approved, a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants; impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants; and make English the official language of the city.
“Illegal immigrants are destroying the city,” said Mayor Lou Barletta, a Republican. “I don’t want them here, period.”
Barletta said he had no choice but to act after two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged last month with shooting and killing a 29-year-old man. Other recent incidents involving illegal immigrants have rattled this city 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, including the arrest of a 14-year-old boy for firing a gun at a playground.
“This is crazy,” the mayor said. “People are afraid to walk the streets. There’s going to be law and order back in Hazleton, and I’m going to use every tool I possibly can.”
It’s not Los Angeles, but it’s a start.
When Barletta took office in 2000, Hispanics represented about 5 percent of the city’s population of 23,000. The population has since shot up to 31,000, with Hispanics now representing 30 percent, lured to Hazleton by cheap housing, a lower cost of living and jobs in nearby plants, factories and farms.
City officials do not know how many of the new arrivals are in the United States illegally, but say they are fueling the drug trade, joining gangs and committing other crimes.
Municipal officials around the nation, frustrated at what they perceive as the federal government’s inability to stem illegal immigration, have increasingly taken matters into their own hands.
Calling the GOP. Wake up! It’s your calling.
In San Bernardino, Calif., voters will decide* whether to adopt a measure nearly identical to the one in Hazleton. An Idaho county filed a racketeering lawsuit against agricultural companies accused of hiring illegal immigrants. In New Hampshire, a pair of police chiefs began arresting illegal immigrants for trespassing.
“They’re being forced to pick up the financial tab for all of this nonsense, and they are doing whatever they can to find ways to combat it at the local level,” said Susan Tully, national field director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates limits on immigration. “This is a fine example of what I’m talking about.”
The melting pot is no longer melting. It’s boiling over.
Flavia Jimenez, an immigrant policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, predicted the Hazleton crackdown would prompt a civil rights lawsuit.
“Landlords are going to shut their doors to anyone who may look or sound Latino,” she said. “On the other hand, landlords may attempt to actually determine whether a person is undocumented or not, and make multiple mistakes because of the complexity of immigration law.”
Well, y’know, maybe Flavia Jimenez has a point. “The complexity of immigration law” is onerous. High time to simplify: Namely, if you’re here illegally, that means you broke the law and you’re a criminal — and you’re not entitled to government services gratis at taxpayers’ expense. Period.
“It’s about time,” said Francis X. Tucci, 57, who was born and raised in Hazleton and owns a hair salon in the heart of the Hispanic business district. “We were a nice community. You find bad everywhere, I understand that, but we’re talking about here and now.”
Some Hispanics approve of the measure, saying they are fed up with crime and graffiti. “If I was mayor, I wouldn’t let anyone in who had a criminal record,” said Rafael Rovira, 69, a naturalized American citizen from the Dominican Republic.
It’s about time, indeed. And more than just a few Hispanics will agree: Serious immigration reform is required.
Jose Lechuga, 42, came to the United States illegally in 1982, received amnesty in 1986 and now operates a grocery store and restaurant in Hazleton. He said the mayor is “confusing illegal people with criminals.”
Jose meet Flavia. The fact is: As long as commiting a crime is illegal, then those who break U.S. immigration laws should be considered criminals. The only thing confusing is why Republicans aren’t doing something about it.
Let’s face it: When France is making news for taking a stronger stand on this issue than America, that only confirms how weak we are on immigration. Toughen up, GOP. We’re fighting to preserve our nation. Vote No on Senate Bill 2611
UPDATE: Mexico is cracking down on its own southern border…
HotAir: “Mexico Goes ‘Nativist’”
“Here at Mexico’s own southern edge, Guatemalans cross legally and illegally to do jobs that Mexicans departing for the north no longer want.”
Well, ain’t that a hoot?
(via Ian Schwartz):
Michelle Malkin doesn’t want to “kick down doors” and neither do we.
But we want major reform. Seriously.
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Be sure to check out our extensive immigration coverage.
Technorati Tags: President Bush, Republicans, CIRA, S. 2611, Immigration, Illegal Aliens, GOP, Mexico
June 19th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
It is not fair to persecute all hispancs because there are a few bad ones around. Some hispanics come here to give there children a better chance in life and then you have those uneducated one who don’t care about anything in this world and are probably fleading from there country for something they did there. I am an American but I have traveled to these poor contries and I have spoken w/ some of the folks who have been living here for year and are just trying to make a living to give there families a better chance at life. They come here to work because there are no jobs in there contries. I also don’t think that hispanics are not the only ones to be comitting crimes around, you are just focusing on them because to you they don’t belong here. I do agree that if a hispaic wants to live in America they should find away to legalize them selves or atleast learn the language. For they are in America.
June 19th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Pa. city poised for immigration crackdown
With tensions rising and the police department and municipal budget stretched thin, Hazleton is about to embark on one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants anywhere in the United States.
Last week the mayor of this former coal town introduc…
June 19th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
That may be so, but what we’re talking about is a wave of disorder and crime associated with illegal immegrants. I’m Autralian, university edicated, my own business asn no criminal record, plus I’ve never taken a cent of welfare money. If I wanted a green card? Foreget it, it’s like applying to go up in the goddamn space shuttle.
But if I were a broke, illiterate, spanish-speaking thug fleeing a rape charge in Guatemala I could walk across the border and get an amnesty? Sorry Linda, screw you.
I know most of these people just want a better life but the solution is to make the rest of the planet more like America, not let the third world move in and turn the states into a dump as well.
June 19th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
I have to agree with Amos, as an American married to a Englishman. The hoops we’ve jumped through for 8 years… and how many more in the future????
You want a better life? Make one in your own country, Americans did here. The whole “better life” argument is sad, and nothing but an excuse. There is NO excuse for Mexico with all of it’s riches and natural resources, not to mention tourist trade to be a third world country.
Honestly,this statement,”make the rest of the planet more like America, not let the third world move in and turn the states into a dump as well,” couldn’t be more true.
June 19th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
I’d rather export (outsource) low-paying jobs than import poor, uneducated immigrants.
Who’s with me?
June 19th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
The debate over immigration reform and the inevitable compromise legislation is purely a charade - one aimed at enriching subcontractors and creating the perception that Washington is actually doing something about the problem. The 900 lb. elephant in the room is represented by businesses and individuals who hire the largely unfortunate souls who cross the border risking life and limb to fall into the waiting arms of cost-conscious America.
Politicans find it much more convenient to attack the illegal immigrant than the illegal employer. Democrat or Republican -these “leaders” know which side of their bread is buttered. Entering the country illegally is wrong, no matter how noble the intention. Hiring an illegal alien is a crime being committed daily by Americans who show a blatant disregard for the rule of law.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Shrimp, you hit the nail squarely on the head. Thanks for your comment.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:38 am
As I’ve noted on this site before, if the incentive (jobs, money, welfare) were taken away we wouldn’t have to deport a single illegal. They would go home on their own.
How to do that? Start by arresting the employers of illegals, and hit them with fines AND imprisonment. That eliminates the jobs and money.
Then make it a crime for a government worker to aid and abet, too (including mayors, commissioners, governors, etc.), with similar penalties, and voila! Problem solved.
July 18th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
While this may not apply to you, the vast majority of people who complain about illegal immigrants are xenophobes who secretly harbor anti-immigrant and anti-minority sentiments. Xenophobes tend to conflate and demonize these three groups of people, and it seems pretty naive for someone to argue that the Hazleton ordinance will not be used to persecute United States citizens and legal residents who happen to be Latinos.