Hazleton, Pennsylvania Mayor Lou Barletta said that he was “honored” after being named as the state’s “Mayor of the Year.” The award committee honored Barletta for several reasons, chief among them his “courage” (according to one committee member) in pursuing a strong anti-immigrant policy. Yet local immigrants’ rights groups were disappointed with Barletta’s prize:“That just sends a really bad message about Pennsylvania,” said Fabricio Rodriguez, executive director of Philly Jobs with Justice, which is part of a national organization that advocates for immigrants and low-wage workers. “Folks have had their lives just uprooted by the actions of this guy.”
In 2006, the Hazleton City Council passed a law that had rejected business permits to firms that purposefully rented to or employed illegal immigrants and would have forced local tenants to register with the city. That plan was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge last year.
Barletta has been accused of exploiting the death of a local resident to promote his anti-immigration measures. Local prosecutors eventually dropped the homicide case against a pair of illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic suspected of the 2006 murder.
Despite the controversy over the immigration debate in Hazleton, Barletta is running for a seat on the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sources- Philadelphia Metro, The Times-Leader, Two Weeks Notice, International Herald Tribune, Politcker
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bechem
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