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SCRANTON, Pa. - During a nine-day trial, a federal judge has learned a lot about Hazleton, a working-class former coal town that few outside Pennsylvania had heard of until the mayor declared war on illegal immigrants. Mayor Lou Barletta and his administration told U.S. District Judge James Munley that illegal immigrants have ruined the town's quality of life and drained the municipal treasury. However, the landlords and business owners who joined the American Civil Liberties Union and others in suing to overturn the ordinance targeting those immigrants said the crackdown was hurting them, emptying apartments and closing stores. Ultimately, the...

The town of Hazleton, PA is getting low on money for its defense fund against the ACLU. Please support Hazleton in its brave fight against illegal immigration. Send them whatever you can afford at the Hazleton, PA website. http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18081397&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6

SCRANTON (PA) – The plaintiffs in the Illegal Immigration Relief Act trial that began Monday claimed a partial victory after a lawyer for the city of Hazleton announced council would remove language the plaintiffs consider discriminatory. During opening arguments, attorney Kris W. Kobach said city council would vote Thursday to delete the words “solely or primarily” from a section of the Relief Act ordinance that spells out how members of the public can register complaints about someone they believe is an illegal immigrant living in the city. The plaintiffs have argued that the wording left room for people to base...

"A trial opening Monday pits Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who says illegal immigrants are destroying the quality of life in his small northeastern Pennsylvania city, against the ACLU and Hispanic groups who contend that the new rules are unconstitutional." "Cesar Perales, president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, said at a news conference Sunday in Hazleton that most Latinos are in town legally, noting that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. The ordinance turns neighbor against neighbor, Perales said, because residents who suspect someone is an illegal immigrant can report them to city officials. "People feel harassed and...

Local jurisdictions across the country, beginning in Hazleton, Pa., have decided they need to act to control crimes committed by illegal aliens in their towns. A variety of laws against illegals as tenants, against illegals as company employees, and in favor of English as the required language, have resulted. The dimensions of the problem are clear. A recent Justice Department audit (reported in The Washington Times Jan. 9) revealed more than 70 percent of illegal aliens arrested in the U.S. had previously been arrested for five or more crimes. The crime problem is compounded when you add the financial costs...

Local jurisdictions across the country, beginning in Hazleton, Pa., have decided they need to act to control crimes committed by illegal aliens in their towns. A variety of laws against illegals as tenants, against illegals as company employees, and in favor of English as the required language, have resulted. The dimensions of the problem are clear. A recent Justice Department audit (reported in The Washington Times Jan. 9) revealed more than 70 percent of illegal aliens arrested in the U.S. had previously been arrested for five or more crimes. The crime problem is compounded when you add the financial costs...

From The Morning Call March 6, 2007 Hazleton puts a price tag on illegal immigration City lists costs in court papers filed in defense of new law. Federal trial starts Monday. By Matt Birkbeck Of The Morning Call An influx of immigrants -- some of them illegal -- fueled an economic boom in Hazleton, but also triggered startling increases in crime and costly demands for law enforcement and education, attorneys for the city say in new court documents. One-third of all drug arrests in Hazleton in 2005 involved illegal immigrants, the documents say, and each time an illegal immigrant uses...

The changes came bit by bit to Hazleton this fall. Rich O'Brien woke up one morning and his neighbors across the street were gone. For the first time in memory, William Sernak, who farms in a town nearby, could not find enough workers at harvest time. And Amilcar Arroyo has watched as the wire transfers sent from his store dropped from $700 a day to $200 to $50. Nearly four months have passed since Hazleton's City Council approved an ordinance designed to make the city, in Mayor Louis J. Barletta's words, "one of the toughest cities in America for illegal...

One of the biggest issues facing the new Congress is what to do about immigration policy and what to do about the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants now living in the U.S. Not that long ago it was a problem in a half dozen border states, today it impacts virtually the entire country. snip Barletta believes what has been going on in Hazleton, a city of about 30,000 people, is a microcosm of what’s been going on all over the country, that illegal immigrants are overwhelming his city, draining its resources and ruining the quality of life .... "Well, obviously...

(AP) PHILADELPHIA The owner of a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop that made headlines recently with its English-only ordering policy has donated $10,000 to help the city of Hazleton defend its crackdown on illegal immigration. “I’m behind you 100-percent,” Joey Vento, owner of Geno’s Steaks, wrote to Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta. Vento posted signs during the summer telling customers, “This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘SPEAK ENGLISH.”’ He and Barletta met last summer because of their shared views on illegal immigration. Barletta said Vento’s contribution brings the city’s legal defense fund to $45,000, which may still fall short of legal fees. Hazleton’s ordinance...

<p>HAZLETON, Pennsylvania: The owner of a Philadelphia cheesesteak joint recently in the spotlight for his English-only ordering policy has donated $10,000 (€7,800) to help the city of Hazleton defend its crackdown on illegal immigration from legal challenges.</p> <p>"I'm behind you 100 percent," Joey Vento, owner of Geno's Steaks, wrote in a handwritten letter to Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta. His fast food restaurant is famous for its cheesesteaks — a mix of fried steak, sliced or chopped, in a long roll, with melted cheese and fried onions.</p>

U.S. District Judge James Munley, ruled Tuesday that landlords, tenants and businesses that cater to Hispanics face the prospect of “irreparable harm” from a Hazleton anti-illegal alien ordnance, issued a temporary restraining order blocking their enforcement.  “We find it in the public interest to protect residents access to homes, education, jobs and businesses,” he wrote in a 13-page opinion. Our federal judiciary has so badly deteriorated over the last 50 years that not only does it find no limitations to its jurisdiction anymore; it doesn’t even feel the need for federal laws to be pursuant to the US Constitution...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the city of Hazleton from enforcing a pair of ordinances targeting illegal immigrants, just hours before the measures were to go into effect. The measures, approved by the City Council last month, would have imposed fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and denied business permits to companies that give them jobs. They also would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit. U.S. District Judge James Munley ruled that landlords, tenants and businesses that cater to Hispanics faced "irreparable harm" from the laws...

HAZLETON, Pa. - Elvis Soto's variety store on Wyoming Street used to make money. But few customers have been walking through his door of late, and his merchandise - calling cards, cell phones, car stereos, clothing - is collecting dust on the shelves. With bills mounting, Soto might have to take another job to stay afloat financially, and maybe even shutter his store. This small hillside city in northeastern Pennsylvania has yet to enforce a tough, first-of-its-kind law targeting illegal immigrants, but evidence suggests that many Hispanics - illegal or otherwise - have already left. That has hobbled the city's...

Officials in the U.S. Pennsylvania town of Hazleton strengthened a local law designed to drive illegal immigrants away in a bid to defend the measure against legal challenges. The new law, approved by a vote of 4-1, increases pressure on local employers to avoid hiring illegal immigrants and raises fines for landlords who rent rooms to them. Landlords will be fined $250 a day for each illegal immigrant they rent to. READ MORE

HAZLETON, Pa. - The City Council gave tentative approval Friday to an overhaul of an anti-illegal-immigration law considered to be one of the nation's toughest, hoping to put the measure on sounder legal footing. Like the version it will replace if granted final approval Tuesday, the new ordinance punishes businesses that employ illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. The revisions, however, remove much of the burden that had been placed on businesses. They soften penalties, give landlords and businesses time to correct violations and leaving it to city officials to verify workers' immigration status with the federal government....

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...

The city of Hazleton agreed Friday to delay enforcing one of the toughest crackdowns of illegal immigrants by a U.S. city. The law fines landlords $1,000 for renting to illegal immigrants, denies business permits to companies that give them jobs, and makes English the city's official language. Enforcement was to begin Sept. 11. The delay came after the city reached an agreement with plaintiffs in a lawsuit _ Hispanic groups and the American Civil Liberties Union, who wanted the law declared unconstitutional. Under the agreement, Hazleton must give the plaintiffs at least 20 days' notice before it begins enforcing either...

Louis Barletta, the Mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, has thrown down the gauntlet to those who think America belongs to anyone who can walk across the border. The ACLU and a Puerto Rican group have taken up the challenge. And the Mayor has upped the ante by hiring as defense counsel the former head of immigration in the Department of Justice. Step one in this legal clash, likely to go to the US Supreme Court, was a series of three ordinances passed in Hazleton. Propelled by several local crimes apparently committed by illegal aliens, and inspired by the Mayor, the City...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Hispanic activists and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of Hazleton yesterday over one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal aliens by a U.S. city. Hazleton, with a population of about 31,000 and located 80 miles from Philadelphia, voted last month to fine landlords $1,000 for renting to illegal aliens, deny business permits to companies that give them jobs and make English the city's official language. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund said the lawsuit is the first in the nation against a city that passed an ordinance against illegal immigration. The...