SEMPER FI
September 4th, 2006, 13:52
:eek: HAZLETON, Pa. - About 300 people, many from Philadelphia and other parts of the state, rallied Sunday in opposition to the city's crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Some carried signs with slogans such as "We The People Includes Everyone" and "The Only People Who Weren't Immigrants Are Native Americans" as they listened to religious and civic leaders speak.
"This ordinance does not include only Latinos," organizer Dr. Agapito Lopez told the crowd. "Many people who are not Latinos will be without jobs if this becomes law."
Hazleton, a city of about 31,000 residents, approved one of the toughest laws of its kind in the United States in July. The law imposes $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, denies business permits to companies that give them jobs and makes English the city's official language.
The city agreed Friday to delay enforcing the law after the
American Civil Liberties Union (http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=American+Civil+Liberties+Union) and Hispanic groups filed suit. Mayor Lou Barletta said the city is working on a replacement ordinance that he believes will better stand up in court.
The Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leadership, said his members came to represent local illegal immigrants who could not protest because they feared arrest.
"We are here for what is just and what is moral," Rivera said
Some carried signs with slogans such as "We The People Includes Everyone" and "The Only People Who Weren't Immigrants Are Native Americans" as they listened to religious and civic leaders speak.
"This ordinance does not include only Latinos," organizer Dr. Agapito Lopez told the crowd. "Many people who are not Latinos will be without jobs if this becomes law."
Hazleton, a city of about 31,000 residents, approved one of the toughest laws of its kind in the United States in July. The law imposes $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, denies business permits to companies that give them jobs and makes English the city's official language.
The city agreed Friday to delay enforcing the law after the
American Civil Liberties Union (http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=American+Civil+Liberties+Union) and Hispanic groups filed suit. Mayor Lou Barletta said the city is working on a replacement ordinance that he believes will better stand up in court.
The Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leadership, said his members came to represent local illegal immigrants who could not protest because they feared arrest.
"We are here for what is just and what is moral," Rivera said