Posted on 09/03/2006 10:29:46 PM PDT by Pikamax
Latinos protest Pennsylvania town's immigration law Sun Sep 3, 2006 10:44 PM ET
By Jon Hurdle
HAZLETON, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Latinos and their supporters gathered on Sunday to protest a local law that was the first in the United States to crack down on illegal immigration.
About 250 representatives of Hazleton's Hispanic community, and others from surrounding cities, met in a city park to protest the town's Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance.
The ordinance penalizes businesses hiring illegal immigrants, fines landlords renting rooms to them and establishes English as the official language of the town.
Agapito Lopez of the Hazleton Area Latino Taskforce, an organizer of the event, said many illegal immigrants have left the town since the measure was passed by the city council on July 13.
"They don't want to be where they are not wanted," he told Reuters. He said some local farms and factories now have a labor shortage because illegal immigrants are leaving town.
Before the law was enacted, he estimated a quarter of the town's Latino population of some 10,000 were undocumented aliens.
The town's Latino population has surged to about a third of the 31,000 total from about 5 percent in 2000, officials say.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, principal backer of the law, blames illegal immigration for rising crime and overburdened schools and hospitals being used by those who don't pay taxes.
Hazleton is being sued over the law by civil rights groups including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which says the measure has been copied by six other towns -- four in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey and one in Missouri.
The city council last week agreed to delay implementing the law so it can be redrafted to exclude a measure that would have penalized shopkeepers for selling to illegal immigrants. A new version of law, which had been scheduled for implementation on September 11, could be voted on by the middle of the month.
Protesters were asked not to chant or shout to avoid a repeat of a rally in Riverside, New Jersey, on August 20 when opponents of that town's illegal immigration ordinance were heckled by hundreds of local residents.
Ed Makuta, 35, one of about a dozen local residents who gathered to oppose the protest, said he was "100 percent in favor of Barletta" and called Lopez a troublemaker. "He is the one causing divisions in this town," Makuta said.
John Studer, 59, who traveled from Philadelphia to support the protest, argued that the law is discriminatory.
"It's effect is that anyone who is Latino is going to come under special scrutiny," he said.
I assure you that Americans of Latino descent are angry to no end for this slap in the face.
"It's effect is that anyone who is Latino is going to come under special scrutiny," he said.
No, it's effect will be just the opposite. It's when illegals are allowed to roam freely that every Latino is suspect. When illegals leave because of this law, then eveyone will presume that the ones left are LEGAL.
And I haven't yet met a legal immigrant who I don't think highly of. They have all been intelligent, hard-working and have integrity. I wish it would be easier to do it legally; not *easy*, just easier. I hear too many stories from people trying to get in about how ridiculously difficult it is.
These protesters are all "racists!" They're assuming that all illegal aliens are hispanic or latino! How dare they? Where are all the hispanic and latino groups that should be protesting the illegal aliens, who are giving them a bad name.
There are plenty of illegal aliens who are here from Asia, Africa, and Europe!
Where's the outrage over this "racism?"
Mark
This is very simple. There are immigrants. And there are ILLEGAL immigrants. What part of ILLEGAL do the leftist socialist revolutionaries (Democrats) not understand?
Why complicate it with gobblygook, nonsensical talk, and protests?
It is true that legal immigrants had it tough going because they were discriminated against, but they were LEGAL immigrants. Trying to drop or obfuscate the distinction is CRIMINAL IMO.
Or-
"Just not wanting to be where regular Americans don't want to them to be..."
Tough titty.
que significa JEJOR?
Well...Working.
Maybe it isn't impossible to send 12 million illegals home after all.
If I found an ad like that in my town, I'd be ALL OVER someone's azz at Circuit City.
Sending continued words of support to Mayor Barletta!
Mayor's Office:
cherie@hazletoncity.org
"Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, principal backer of the law, blames illegal immigration for rising crime and overburdened schools and hospitals being used by those who don't pay taxes."
Mayor Barletta deserves a medal. Better yet, if congress ever has the stones to pass a tough immigration bill, name it after this mayor.
God bless this guy, truly.
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