PT-LawMom

A year after the city council of Hazelton, PA enacted legislation to attempt to “control” illegal immigration in their town, a federal judge today struck down the unconstitutional ordinance. Hopefully other towns will take note and stop enacting similar measures, at the very least because it’s not worth the costly litigation, based on today’s ruling. The Mayor of Hazelton vows to appeal the decision.

Federal District Judge James Munley said the town of Hazleton in northeastern Pennsylvania had acted unconstitutionally when it passed its Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance under which businesses would be penalized for hiring illegal aliens and landlords would be fined for renting rooms to them.

The ordinance, first passed by the Hazleton City Council in July 2006, also established English as the town’s official language.

Backers of the law, led by Mayor Louis J. Barletta, argued that illegal immigration, largely from Mexico and Central America, was overburdening local schools, hospitals and social services in this town of about 30,000. They also argued that an influx of undocumented workers was also driving up crime.

“Federal law prohibits Hazleton from enforcing any of the provisions in its ordinances,” Judge Munley wrote in an eagerly awaited 206-page opinion. “Thus, we will issue a permanent injunction enjoining their enforcement.”

“This decision should be a blaring red stoplight for local officials thinking of copying Hazleton’s misguided and unconstitutional law,” said Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which represented the plaintiffs.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Immigration . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.