Louis J. Barletta Mayor - City of Hazleton

(Best Syndication) A U.S. District Court Judge struck down a Hazelton Pennsylvania law designed to crackdown on illegal immigration declaring it “unconstitutional”. U.S. District Judge James Munley said the city was not allowed to implement the law that would fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants and penalize landlords who rent rooms to them.

In the case of “PEDRO LOZANO Vs. the City of Hazelton” the city blamed the influx of illegal immigrants for a rise in crime and an increase in social services. Although the city passed the ordinance in July of 2006, it was not implemented because of a court injunction. On Thursday Judge Munley made that injunction permanent.

Of the 30,000 residents of Hazelton, about a third are immigrants from Central America and around a quarter of the immigrant population is believed to be undocumented.

In the 206 page ruling, the judge said that after the September 11th 2001 terror attacks many residents moved from New York City to Hazelton and other rural communities.

The Judge stated that “Federal law pre-empts IIRA (Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance) and RO (Tenant Registration Ordinance). The ordinances disrupt a well-established federal scheme for regulating the presence and employment of immigrants in the United States. They violate the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution and are unconstitutional.” See what others are saying and join the discussion at our Forum

Many business owners say that such laws are burdensome and place employers and landlords in the position of law enforcement. The judge agreed saying the “ordinances violate the procedural due process protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. They penalize landlords, tenants, employers and employees without providing them the procedural protections required by federal law, including notice and an opportunity to be heard. Our analysis applies to illegal aliens as well as to legal residents and citizens. The United States Constitution provides due process protections to all persons.”

Although Munley agreed that neither the IIRA nor RO “facially discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin”, since illegal aliens are “persons” under the 14th Amendment, the city may not “burden their right to contract more than that of other persons.”

The Plaintiffs prevailed concerning the employment related provisions. “The defendant (the city) acted ultra vires in enacting the portion 188 of IIRA which creates a private cause of action for a dismissed employee. The City, however, has the power to license businesses in ways that do not violate Pennsylvania law. Thus, we will dismiss the remaining portion of the count.”

Judge Munley concluded “Whatever frustrations officials of the City of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the 189 political system in the United States prohibits the City from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme. Even if federal law did not conflict with Hazleton’s measures, the City could not enact an ordinance that violates rights the Constitution guarantees to every person in the United States, whether legal resident or not.”

“The genius of our Constitution is that it provides rights even to those who evoke the least sympathy from the general public,” Munley added. “In that way, all in this nation can be confident of equal justice under its laws. Hazleton, in its zeal to control the presence of a group deemed undesirable, violated the rights of such people, as well as others within the community. Since the United States Constitution protects even the disfavored, the ordinances cannot be enforced.”

See what others are saying and join the discussion at our Forum

By Dan Wilson
Best Syndication News Writer

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