Free Republic

In July, 2006, the little known town of Hazleton in Pennsylvania became a key focal point in the national debate over immigration reform. The council approved a controversial ordinance that granted the city's authorities extraordinary powers in dealing with undocumented immigrants and those who offered them employment. The man behind the measure was the town's mayor, Lou Barletta, who has since become a leading figure of anti-immigrant campaigners in the US. The law sought to punish businesses that hired undocumented workers and the landlords who rented out properties to them. About a third of the former coal mining town's 30,000-strong...

Press conference with Alan Keyes April 15, 2008 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time Hazleton, Pennsylvaniawww.alankeyes.com

Former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes has chosen April 15 to make a major announcement of his intentions, following indications he has broken with the GOP. A life-long Republican who has increasingly cited the party's failure to match conservative rhetoric with actual performance in the political arena, Keyes said he will reveal his reasons for departing the GOP at a press conference scheduled for 8:30 pm ET, at the Best Western Genetti Inn in Hazleton, PA. The event will be video-streamed live at Keyes' website, www.AlanKeyes.com. Keyes added that he is looking to the Constitution Party as a possible home...

Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Doninguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo got an incentive to learn English: speaking and writing the language can keep them out of jail. When Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. sentenced the four Hazleton men to serve four to 24 months for assault on Wednesday in Luzerne County Court, he added a twist. If they pass an English test a year from now, they will remain free after serving the minimum sentence. If they fail the test, they go back to prison for the full term. The creative sentence appealed to some who believe learning English will help...

Arizona Sen. John McCain has rejected Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's invitation to come to the southern Luzerne County city and discuss illegal immigration. "Senator McCain truly appreciates your invitation and the valuable opportunity it represents," a scheduling official, Jo Black, in the presumptive Republican nominee's presidential campaign wrote in a letter. Barletta's congressional campaign released the letter today. "Unfortunately, I must pass along his regrets as I do not foresee an opportunity to add this event to the calendar." Black said McCain has "tremendous demands on his time" and because of "the large volume of similar requests, events such as...

AFTER A CAREER as a newspaperman in a number of different states and cities I’ve become accustomed to readers’ telling me their town is different than others. Keep that in mind as you edit our newspaper, they say, because “we really are different here.” Most often than not they aren’t and neither is the town where they reside. Not different, that is. But, there is nothing wrong with being parochial and proud of where a person lives. Feeling special and unique, even if it is just one person in a population of tens of thousands, carries its own sense of...

A mother now stands accused in connection with the death of her two-year-old son and her boyfriend faces a count of homicide. Lillian Torres is charged with involuntary manslaughter for doing nothing to prevent her two-year-old son's death. Emmanuel Gonzalez died Sunday morning. Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas described the child's death as one of the worst child abuse cases he's ever seen. Lupas charged Lillian Torres, 19, Emmanuel Gonzalez's mother, with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with her son's death. Lupas said Torres allowed the abuse to happen and ignored her duty...

A Hazleton man was arraigned Sunday night on charges related to the apparent beating death of a 2-year-old boy. Hazleton police arrested 20-year-old Alexander Garcia, charging him with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Joseph Zola and committed to Luzerne County Correctional Facility on $2 million cash bail. According to an affidavit of probable cause, Hazleton Cpl. Gerald Tray and Patrolman Shawn Conti were dispatched to Hazleton General Hospital on Sunday at 12:29 a.m. for a death investigation. Hospital staff took them to the emergency room, where 2-year-old Emanuel Gonzalez was...

Republican captures third straight term, knocking off Libertarian John Medashefski. HAZLETON – Mayor Lou Barletta creamed his opponent, John Medashefski, by a 9-to-1 margin on Tuesday, according to unofficial election results. Not surprisingly, the 51-year-old Republican won his third consecutive term by a landslide, given that Barletta captured both the GOP nomination and the Democratic nod as well in the May primary with a last-minute write-in campaign. Medashefski, a 52-year-old coffee shop owner and artist, ran on the Libertarian ticket in a terribly under-funded campaign with no TV advertising. “Myself, as a newcomer, I guess expected what I got. But...

HAZLETON, Pa. - Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta easily won re-election Tuesday to a third term, and in his victory party he talked about fighting drugs and violence in the city. He also talked about the issue of illegal immigrants. He said, "We've seen what illegal immigration has done to our small town quality of life and we have said, 'No! We will not let this happen."' He said, "We will fight!" Barletta, a Republican, gained national prominence by targeting illegal immigrants living in his Luzerne County city. Yesterday, he defeated Libertarian candidate John Medashefski, a coffee shop owner who had...

Cops: Kelvin DeJesus hit his estranged wife, daughter, another man with wooden bat. HAZLETON (PA) – A Hazleton man accused of beating his estranged wife and 5-year-old daughter with a baseball bat early Friday morning was angry because he witnessed the child and her 4-year-old sister hugging his wife’s boyfriend the night before, police and prosecutors said. A bloody Kelvin DeJesus, 24, of 327 W. Green St., was charged with multiple counts of aggravated and simple assault in connection with the brutal attack that happened just before 4 a.m. “I love her very much, I’m sorry,” DeJesus said about his...

massive drug sweep that netted at least two non-U.S. citizens in Hazleton, Pa., demonstrates that local municipalities need the power to crack down on illegal immigrants, according to the city's mayor, Lou Barletta. After a seven-month investigation, the state Attorney General's Office announced Thursday that it had charged 40 people - all of them suspected dealers - with involvement in a Northeast Pennsylvania cocaine ring that allegedly made $31 million over three years and is based in Hazleton. Among those charged were two illegal immigrants and five or six other noncitizens with green cards

A northeastern Pennsylvania cocaine ring that allegedly rang up sales of more than $31 million over three years was broken up Thursday as law enforcement officials announced charges against 40 suspects. The arrests came after a seven-month undercover investigation launched after two confidential informants approached police with information about the sale of crack cocaine in the Hazleton area. State Attorney General Tom Corbett said that some of the suspects are believed to be illegal immigrants - a disclosure that is sure to add fuel to the debate over Hazleton's now-defunct Illegal Immigration Relief Act. According to a criminal complaint, undercover...

Plaintiffs who successfully sued to overturn Hazleton's illegal-immigrant law want the city to pay more than $2.3 million in legal fees. U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down the Illegal Immigration Relief Act in July, ruling it unconstitutional. Hazleton has appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs asked Munley yesterday to award them more than $2.3 million in fees and an additional $45,000 in related costs. Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta called the request absurd and said the city would fight it. Barletta has raised $400,000 for the city's legal defense...

I don’t often write about law. It’s been one of my professions for 35 years, but I have to admit the subject is boring. I don’t often accuse anyone else of being “un-American” because there’s a lot of leeway for opinion in a free country. Today I drop both restrictions. The subject is Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and the ACLU. The ACLU filed today (Friday) a petition for Hazleton to pay it $2.4 million in fees because ACLU lawyers persuaded a US District judge to strike down a series of local ordinances. Those laws intended to make it difficult for illegal aliens...

The attorneys who successfully challenged Hazleton's illegal immigration ordinance in federal court want the city to pay their legal fees and costs totaling close to $2.4 million. A 28-page petition filed in federal court Friday blames the city for driving up the fees for the attorneys pursuing the case, who represented several of Hazleton's Hispanic residents, landlords and community groups. Since passing the first ordinance of its kind in July 2006, the city passed at least three additional versions of the ordinance in an attempt to improve its chances of winning the lawsuit. The often unexpected changes made the case...

Popular with voters in Hazleton, Louis Barletta eyes campaign against Democratic Congressman: Hazleton, Pa., Mayor Louis Barletta, whose visibility is unusually high because of his campaign against undocumented workers and their families says he will decide by January whether to run for Congress in 2008. "I'm giving it serious consideration," said Mr. Barletta, a Republican. "I like being mayor, but everybody knows I've been disappointed by Washington's inaction on immigration reform."

In what has been called "A Tale of Two Cities," Hazleton, Pa., and New Haven have been taking sharply contrasting courses on illegal immigration. But they came to a crossroads of sorts in a Pennsylvania courtroom last week. Hazleton, once a bustling coal town that fell on hard times after the mines played out, enacted a law penalizing landlords and employers who associated with illegal aliens. In a lawsuit bankrolled by the American Civil Liberties Union, illegals and their advocates contended Hazleton was interfering with the federal government's constitutional authority over immigration. U.S. District Court Judge James Munley agreed, but...

A telling irony shines through last week's ruling by a federal judge that found only Congress can set immigration law. The judge knew full well that half the plaintiffs in the case were in the US illegally. But he let them challenge a city ordinance on immigration anyway – and anonymously. And so it's been in America for too long: Turn a blind eye to the massive lawbreaking of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Imagine if a scofflaw wanted by the FBI had sued a city for enacting a criminal law tougher than a federal law. Would that person...

A federal judge cast the bright light of reality into the immigration issue last week when he ruled that cities have no place in deciding who is legal or illegal. The ruling found unconstitutional the ordinances written by the leaders of Hazleton, Pa., a small town that has become a model for towns wanting to take the law into their own hands. The ruling came as a reminder that though Congress has failed to take responsible action on immigration, the job of writing immigration law can't be usurped by local government. The ordinances in Hazleton were meant to punish landlords...

Even as Sen. Barack Obama found himself under fire from the Hillary Clinton campaign over what she called his "naive" intention to meet with leaders of countries hostile to the U.S., the presidential hopeful praised the recent court decision overturning one city's attempt to protect itself from hostile foreigners filling their streets with drugs, crime and gangs as "a victory for all Americans." On Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Munley overturned Hazleton, Pa.'s "Illegal Immigration Relief Act" in a 206-page opinion that declared states and municipalities have no authority to stem illegal immigration.

HAZLETON — When Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta’s assistant checked the office voice mail box at 7 p.m. Thursday, it was full. By 6 p.m. Friday, it was loaded with yet another batch of well-wishers, some asking how they could donate to the city’s legal defense fund. Then there’s the city’s e-mail inbox. Cherie Homa, the assistant, estimates it has received more than 500 messages since a federal judge struck down the Illegal Immigration Relief Act Thursday afternoon. “We’ve been going nonstop,” she said. But no matter how numerous the supporters, one number is perhaps most important to the next step...

This is a simple question. Everyone should know the answer. It goes to the heart of the American experiment in self-government. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “just” government rests on “the consent of the governed.” The Constitution put that in writing, in law. But recently, two federal judges have decided that they should run America, not the people. Federal judges are, of course, not elected and serve for life. The idea that they should decide public issues rather than officials elected for that purpose is an attack on the basis of American government. And yet it...

U.S. District Judge James M. Munley, in a much anticipated 206 page decision with national implications, also ruled that the ordinance violated the nation's Supremacy Clause, which acknowledges federal law as the supreme law of the land. "Whatever frustrations ... the city of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the political system in the United States prohibits the city from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme," Munley wrote. The ordinance, which would have imposed heavy fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them,...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A federal judge on Thursday struck down the city of Hazleton's tough immigration law, which has been emulated by cities around the country. The Illegal Immigration Relief Act sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. Another measure would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit. It was pushed by Hazleton's Republican mayor last summer after two illegal immigrants were charged in a fatal shooting. Hispanic groups and illegal immigrants sued in federal court to overturn...

So, what happens after the decision comes down? With U.S. District Judge James Munley expected to issue a decision in the suit against Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act today, the city is making plans – for both the long and short terms. The immediate short-term plans are to discuss the decision, whatever it may be. While the plaintiffs will discuss the decision at the federal courthouse in Scranton, Mayor Lou Barletta will hold a press conference at City Hall about 4 p.m. He said he wanted to react to the decision here rather than in Scranton so the national media...

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta is cutting a family vacation short and planning a press conference in anticipation that a federal judge will issue a ruling on Hazleton's illegal immigration ordinance tomorrow afternoon, the mayor said.Hazleton has been at the heart of a national debate ever since July 2006 when it passed an ordinance punishing landlords and employers for doing business with illegal immigrants. A separate ordinance makes English the official language. Hundreds of municipalities around the country - and at least two dozen in Northeastern Pennsylvania - passed or considered copycat laws. The American Civil Liberties Union and several other...

Sometimes a small story can tell much more than it intends to. A story sent out by the Associated Press on Friday, 6 June, is apparently about crime and punishment in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. It is actually about journalistic crime and punishment at the AP. The title, as printed online by the Philadelphia Daily News, is, “Hazleton mayor loses key argument for illegal immigrant crackdown.” This title is the exact opposite of the truth. Why that is so, is the real story here. To provide the back story, Hazleton is one of the first towns to pass ordinances which restrict the...

Salvadore DeFazio, the poet laureate of Hazleton, Pa., is on deadline. In the days leading to the Fourth of July, his hometown is celebrating its 150th birthday. The centerpiece of the commemoration is a history pageant DeFazio is furi ously working to finish. He is searching for an ending, though he has settled on a musical theme in Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." It's a perfect fit, DeFazio says: "Hazleton is a fanfare for the common man." Not everyone is thrilled with the choice of music. "'Fanfare for the Common Man' burns me up," says Joseph Palaggi, 80,...

SCRANTON – The crowd attending an immigration reform rally Friday outside the federal building wasn’t quite as large as the crowd that attended a similar rally nearly two weeks earlier at Hazleton City Hall. But it was just as enthusiastic. There were, however, quite a bit more people at the rally at the William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse who were sympathetic to illegal immigrants. And tension between the two factions grew thick during one of the final speeches of the evening. Rally organizer Frank Scavo said the rally was a result of a promise he made during...

HAZLETON – Hundreds of people packed Church Street in front of City Hall on Sunday afternoon at a rally to support Mayor Lou Barletta, the city’s illegal immigration ordinance and national immigration reform. Organized by members of the Voice of the People movement, the 2 p.m. rally included speeches from a dozen local and nationally recognized supporters of immigration reform, as well as musical entertainment by the political rock band Poker Face. Local entertainer Tony Angelo got the crowd psyched up for the event, singing patriotic songs such as Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” starting at 1:30 p.m.,...

That's right, from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And I would suggest that my senator, Jon Kyl, check this article before he continues his sell-out to Teddy Kennedy. The subject of the story is the mayor of Hazelton, PA who got a local ordinance passed that would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. By MICHAEL RUBINKAM - Associated Press Writer ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who gained national prominence by targeting illegal immigrants living in his small northeastern Pennsylvania city, cruised to the Republican nomination for a third term on Tuesday - and...

Lou Barletta won a third term as mayor of Hazleton by thumping all comers in an historic election Tuesday. Barletta hammered Republican challenger Dee Deakos 1,343 votes to 80 in what appears to be the biggest landslide in city history. By percentage, Barletta got 94.4 percent of the vote, while Deakos got 5.6 percent.The shocker was Barletta’s winning the Democratic nomination through his write-in campaign. He beat Mike Marsicano by a near 2-1 margin, 1,211 votes to 699, according to unofficial results. Again by percentage, Barletta got 63.4 percent of the vote to Marsicano’s 36.6 percent.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who gained national prominence by targeting illegal immigrants living in his small northeastern Pennsylvania city, cruised to the Republican nomination for a third term on Tuesday — and unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination, too. Barletta trounced GOP challenger Dee Deakos with nearly 94 percent of the vote. And he beat former Mayor Michael Marsicano for the Democratic nomination by staging a last-minute write-in campaign, all but guaranteeing himself another term, unofficial returns showed. "I think the message is clear," Barletta said. "The people of Hazleton want me to keep fighting for them."...

What do these towns have in common: Escondido (CA), Farmers Branch (TX), Hazleton (PA) Riverside (NJ) and Valley Park (MO)?They are among the cities and counties nationwide that have proposed or enacted local ordinances that bar landlords from renting to illegal immigrants, penalize businesses that hire them or train their police force to enforce federal immigration laws – and they all have been targeted by the ACLU, civil rights activists and business groups seeking to drive up the legal costs of defending the ordinances in court so high that town officials knuckle under.The strategy worked in the case of Escondido,...

PRO-IMMIG MIKE STICKS IT TO THE STICKS (Mayor Bloomberg opposes illegal immigrant ban) By DAVID SEIFMAN April 1, 2007 -- MAYOR Bloomberg has come out swinging against a fellow mayor trying to impose one of the most restrictive bans against illegal aliens in the nation. At a civic meeting in Brooklyn last week, Bloomberg verbally attacked Louis Barletta, the mayor of Hazleton, Pa., who enacted a law barring undocumented immigrants from holding jobs or renting apartments. The law gained nationwide attention, leading to a challenge from civil-rights groups. A federal judge is currently weighing whether it's constitutional. Responding to a...

A Hazleton man was assaulted by several teens apparently on their way home from school Thursday, city police said. Police are investigating an assault involving weapons — witnesses called it a stabbing — in the area of Fourth and Lincoln streets Thursday. According to Hazleton police, 23-year-old Craig Mason of Hazleton was assaulted by several Hispanic males. Mason was treated at Hazleton General Hospital for his injuries, police said. A witness at the scene said 17 or 18 Hispanic teens believed to be on their way home from school were involved in the assault on Mason, who was driving south...

The city government of Hazleton, Pa., got in trouble when it passed a law intended to drive out illegal immigrants. The American Civil Liberties Union sued to overturn the ordinance, arguing that it is the proper task of the federal government, not municipalities, to enforce immigration laws. But when good remedies are absent, it's no surprise to see bad ones emerge.

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...