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Hazleton Is Still A Divisive Town When It Comes To Immigration

Hazleton Shines Light On Larger Immigration Issues
By 

Editor, Latino Voices

HAZLETON, PA - MARCH 14: Cars move through downtown Hazleton March 14, 2007 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. A new city ordinance in Hazleton has caused members of the large Latino community to fear discrimination and to have concern for their future in the town.The city of Hazleton and its aggressive policy on illegal immigration is the subject of a federal trial that is being viewed nationally as a landmark case on immigration. In a move that caused outrage among Latino residents this past summer, city officials in Hazleton adopted ordinances that target illegal immigrants in housing, language use and employment. The ordinance, called the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, has been put on hold while the case is challenged in federal court in Scranton by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. At least 80 towns and cities across the nation have adopted similar measures against illegal immigrants. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
HAZLETON, PA - MARCH 14: Cars move through downtown Hazleton March 14, 2007 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. A new city ordinance in Hazleton has caused members of the large Latino community to fear discrimination and to have concern for their future in the town.The city of Hazleton and its aggressive policy on illegal immigration is the subject of a federal trial that is being viewed nationally as a landmark case on immigration. In a move that caused outrage among Latino residents this past summer, city officials in Hazleton adopted ordinances that target illegal immigrants in housing, language use and employment. The ordinance, called the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, has been put on hold while the case is challenged in federal court in Scranton by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. At least 80 towns and cities across the nation have adopted similar measures against illegal immigrants. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

HAZLETON, Pa. — Before Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, before “self-deportation” became the Republican presidential platform in 2012, there was Hazleton.

This working-class city in the Poconos passed the country’s first law aimed at making life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they would pack up and leave.

Hazleton has faded from the national attention it drew with its Illegal Immigration Relief Act in 2006. But as Republicans in Congress advance plans to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, the city presents a test case of whether the party risks leaving behind a critical part of its core constituency: white working-class voters for whom illegal immigration stirs visceral reactions.

Read more on The New York Times

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