Pa. city defends illegal immigrant rules
MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press
Mar 12, 2007
SCRANTON, Pa. - There is no evidence to back up the Hazleton mayor's claim that illegal immigrants are destroying the quality of life in his city, an ACLU attorney told a judge Monday at the start of the first federal trial on local efforts to curb illegal immigration
"Even if illegal immigrants really are wreaking havoc on Hazleton, that doesn't change the legal analysis" that the former coal town's crackdown on illegal immigrants usurps the federal government's role, said Witold "Vic" Walczak, the Pennsylvania legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hazleton officials last summer passed the city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that employ them. A companion measure requires tenants to register with City Hall.
Hispanic groups and the ACLU sued, contending the measures are unconstitutional.
Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri law professor representing Hazleton, said the town has welcomed immigrants throughout its history, from Irish immigrants in the 19th century to Italians in the early 20th century and Hispanics in the 1980s and 1990s.
But after 2000, "something had changed. Hazleton had seen new criminals and new sorts of crime," said Kobach, an immigration adviser under former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The city had one murder in 1994 and didn't have another until 2001, when a killing was allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, he said. Five more murders were committed in 2005 and 2006, allegedly all by illegal immigrants, Kobach said.
In court papers, Hazleton officials said illegal immigrants have committed at least 47 crimes since last spring, consuming much of the city's police overtime budget. Illegal immigrants were the subject of one-third of all drug arrests in 2005, and they have driven up the costs of health care and education, the city said.
In response to the ACLU argument, Kobach said Congress had clearly stated its intent that states and municipalities can help the federal government enforce immigration law. He noted that in 1996, Congress asked them to determine the immigration status of anyone seeking public benefits.
