Man Who Started Local Anti-Immigrant Laws is Going to DC

Remember Hazleton, PA? Not as in “last time you were there,” but as in the headlines the town generated back in 2006. That was when Hazelton’s city council considered restrictive anti-immigrant ordinances that became a blueprint for a rash of similar local laws across the country. The man that spearheaded that effort is now headed to congress.

The city’s Mayor, Lou Barletta, 54, launched a four-year campaign to enact the ordinances that were designed to drive undocumented workers out of that community. They called it the Immigration Relief Act and according to the Associated Press it  “would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. A companion measure would require prospective tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit. ” His efforts were challenged and sputtered, but Barletta told the AP that he was proud of his accomplishment. So much so, it seems, that he ran for congress on that very same platform and won.

So now the man who spurred a rash of copy-cat anti immigrant municipal ordinances is headed to Washington. And if you thought that meant an end to the harassment of immigrant workers in Hazleton…

Barletta’s successor, City Council President Joseph Yanuzzi, has said that he intends to keep up the pressure. Again the AP: “‘Our budget is for people who pay their taxes,” he said. ‘The illegals are not paying their taxes, their fair share.’

Barletta argued that illegal immigrants brought drugs, crime and gangs to the city and overwhelmed police, schools and hospitals. The Republican mayor pushed a pair of immigration measures after two illegal immigrants were charged in a fatal shooting.”

As is stands today federal appeals courts are at odds over city’s rights to enact their own immigration laws.

[Photo courtesy loubarletta.com]

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