Background on Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act

In response to a rash of violent crimes and murders, as well as increased blight and drug trafficking connected to illegal aliens in the City of Hazleton, Lou Barletta said, “Enough is enough.”

In 2006, as Mayor of the City of Hazleton, Lou Barletta introduced ordinances that made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal aliens and for landlords to knowingly rent to illegal aliens. Hazleton City Council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act and Barletta signed it into law.

The ordinance did not punish illegal aliens or try to determine the residency status of any individual. The ordinance even provided several safe harbor measurers to employers and landlords.

Lou Barletta and the City of Hazleton were immediately sued by the ACLU and 37 lawyers in federal district court over the ordinances.

During the long trial that followed, the judge allowed the identities of the accusers to be kept secret from the city and its attorneys, and he excused them from showing up to provide testimony in open court – all because they were illegal aliens and could have faced deportation. In essence, the federal judge in the case gave the illegal aliens more rights than an American citizen would have in a U.S. court of law.

The district judge ruled against Barletta and the City of Hazleton.

In September 2010, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia rejected Hazleton's appeal.  But Lou Barletta didn't stop there. He and other Hazleton officials appealed that decision to the United States Supreme Court.

In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the circuit court's decision and asked it to reconsider its ruling in light of the Supreme Court decision upholding a similar law in Arizona (Chamber of Commerce of the United States v Whiting, May 2011). A new court date has yet to be set.

Hazleton has yet to be allowed to enforce its ordinances, and violent crimes committed by illegal aliens continue to occur. In October 2011, an illegal alien allegedly raped a woman (as she slept in her bed with two children) and shot and killed a man in the same house. 

The liberal media likes to paint Lou Barletta and Hazleton as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the legal immigrant community in Hazleton continues to grow (as proven by enrollment figures in the Hazleton Area School District and by the number of minority-owned businesses that continue to open in the city). Legal immigrants are some of Lou Barletta’s biggest supporters. They are the ones that come to this country looking for a better life, good jobs, clean communities, safe playgrounds, and quality schools. More importantly, they followed the legal process.

Illegal aliens are putting the legal immigrants at a disadvantage. They take jobs from legal residents. They drive down wages.

That's why Lou Barletta took action. He fought to defend his city, save its budget, and protect those most at risk. 

And that's why Lou Barletta continues to fight today.