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Rights groups sue Pennylvania town on immigrant law
Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:55pm ET
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania town that passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the United States this week overstepped its authority, said a civil-liberties group which announced plans on Friday to sue.
The city council of Hazleton, a former coal-mining town of some 31,000 people, late on Thursday passed a measure that will deny a business permit to anyone hiring illegal immigrants.
It also imposes a $1,000 fine on any landlord who rents to illegal immigrants, and establishes English as the town's official language.
The ordinance states that illegal immigration leads to higher crime rates, overcrowded classrooms and failing schools, imposes a financial burden on hospitals and reduces the quality of other public services in the town.
Hazleton boomed under a wave of Eastern European immigrants in the late 1800s, and has experienced a surge of Hispanic immigration in recent years.
The townspeople are suffering from "the debilitating effects on their economic and social well being imposed by the influx of illegal aliens," the regulation says, and the city has the authority to punish those who aid illegal aliens.
A coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represents U.S. Latinos on immigration issues, say they will sue Hazleton in federal court.
Lee Llambelis, legal director of the Fund, said the suit will argue that the ordinance erodes the federal government's power to regulate immigration. Continued...
insein said:Well the ACLU found out and are putting an end to that.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...RUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
William Joyce said:As expected. A small town in America is raped twice: first by the hordes of illegals spilling in with their crime and welfare demands, second by the feds, the fancies, the ACLU and the rest who unleash the high-powered lawyers and guns.
Did someone say it was time for a revolution?
dilloduck said:There they go again--I think they can take the A off of thier acronym now. Fighting to protect illegal foreigners is a bit brazen but no surprise.
