HOORAY!!! Did you read this???? One more town!!!?

Question

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Altoona latest to approve illegal immigrant crackdown
9/27/2006, 11:53 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — City Council members on Tuesday night approved a measure aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants by punishing companies that hire them and landlords who rent to them.

The council voted 6-1, with member Matt Garber dissenting, to adopt the "Undocumented Alien Control Ordinance" proposal, which is similar to a measure passed in Hazleton earlier this year.

Before the vote, members heard passionate testimony from people for and against the ordinance.

"Who will take care of the people made homeless and unemployed?" asked The Rev. Luke Robertson, Catholic Charities director. "What might passing this kind of ordinance do to the soul of this city?"

Businessman Greg Sheehan, however, said the measure could keep problems such as depressed wages and crime from reaching Altoona, a city of about 47,000 that is 85 miles west of Pittsburgh.

"It's coming," he said. "We need to stop it before it happens."

The vote came a couple of weeks after a Blair County jury recommended that Miguel Padilla be sentenced to death for the murders of three men outside a city nightclub last year. Immigration authorities have said that Padilla, 27, of Gallitzin, had been in the country illegally from Mexico since he was about 9 years old.

Garber said he was concerned about how the ordinance would be enforced and the risk of litigation. He said he favors the employment provision but is not sure the rental provisions give landlords enough time to evict or enough tools to determine legality of renters.

Representatives of the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches, the American Civil Liberties Union and some community activists had asked the council to table the ordinance. Bishop Joseph Adamec of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown earlier said that if it was passed, there should be a "grandfather clause" allowing poor families to get help if needed.

Since the Hazleton vote, more than a half-dozen communities in eastern Pennsylvania have either passed or considered similar crackdowns on illegal immigrants, as have a number of municipalities around the country.

Hispanic activists and the ACLU sued to overturn Hazleton's illegal immigrant law, but the lawsuit was rendered moot earlier this month when the city passed a replacement law designed to better withstand a legal challenge.

"truesoul" IF you're a "lawyer",why don't you know how to spell correctly??? "appaulled"???
And, to those who said, "who's going to do the jobs illegals are doing"?? Answer= AMERICAN workers!!!!! The SAME people who did them BEFORE the illegals came!!!

HEY!!! "one withthecandy" your *** is showing

HEY!!! "one withthecandy" your @SS is showing

Answer 1

This is GOOD News Seals!! Actually GREAT news.
AND this little tid bit is awesome news too!!!
"Hispanic activists and the ACLU sued to overturn Hazleton's illegal immigrant law, but the lawsuit was rendered moot earlier this month when the city passed a replacement law designed to better withstand a legal challenge. "
LOL "ILLEGAL immigrant law" I mean come on these people are breaking the LAW, JUST by being here, whether they are overstaying their visas or Crossing the borders!! It is against the laws of this country to be here illegally!!!!!!! A city/town has the right to UPHOLD our laws!!!

TY for posting!!

Answer 2

This appears to be the true course to defeating illegal immigration in this country. If you take away the employment and housing opportunities for illegals you also take away the incentive. Grass roots at a city by city level will have the desired effect. Unfortunately, I do not believe we can wait for the US Congress because the Senate has shown that they are only interested in appeasing illegals rather than enforcing the law of the land. However, do not completely give up on Congress. Write or call your representatives and make your voice heard. Vote against any candidate who will not take an affirmative stand against illegal immigration and the message will be received. Do not let the detractors deter you, the American people can win this fight if we stand together strong and resolute in our convictions.

TrueSoul: The article does not say the law is illegal. It says that Hispanic activists and ACLU types say the law is illegal. Just because the city may have found discrepancies in the law and moved to change that doesn't mean the original law was illegal. The Federal government is charged with protecting the borders. They have not done this. The federal government is charged with controlling legal immigration which they have done. The Constitution was designed to give broad powers to the states, not the federal government. However the federal government has usurped power for themselves in direct violation of the Framer's intent and to the detriment of the states rights. If a city wishes to pass laws to protect it's citizens and municipality it is within it's rights to do. It is for the courts to decide whether these laws are legal and constitutional, not Congress. Congress is looking for a compromise that the American people do not want, in this regard they are disregarding the will of the people. When the people's will is subverted they have a Constitutional right to act in their own behalf. Given the fact that the Framers fought a war for those rights, I think they would be completely behind what Altoona and other cities are now doing in the face of institutional dismissal by the federal government of the will of the people.

As a lawyer I would think you would be better at critical thought which gives due deference to both sides of the issue.

Answer 3

This sounds good in theory and I think this is a wonderful law but.....how far are they going to go to make sure that a landlord or company knows the person is legal? What if the person shows them fraudlent documents? If you run into this problem of saying well the company/landlord would not be resposible for that how do you know that the company/landlord isn't providing illegals with fradulent documents so they can still continue to work and rent....

Answer 4

something via Oscar Wilde or Truman Capote. the two men are quite awesome. i actually enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany's, via Capote and a perfect Husband, via Wilde became only stunning. they're 2 of the final writers i've got ever found. Boy in the Striped Pajamas via John Boyne is quite super. I only finished analyzing it, and it had me in tears. "it quite is a e book which will stay with you and hang-out you for many days once you place it down." (-Palm coastline Jewish magazine) That quote could not be truer. yet yeah, it quite is a e book in regards to the Holocaust from the attitude of a 9-3 hundred and sixty 5 days-old boy, raised via a Nazi soldier. i don't have lots else to advise, a minimum of, not something that i'm uncertain which you have have been given already examine. @ALEX- quite? i did not understand that. i think of I easily have some textual content cloth-e book analyzing to do.....

Answer 5

I agree that cities should do this; however, in my job I deal with Spanish-speaking immigrants (legal and illegal) and have come to realize that without illegals to do the jobs that Americans refuse to do (think welfare mothers or lazy folks on unemployment), the economy of this country would collapse. Every restaurant, janitorial service, security guard service, and farm in this country is dependent upon primarily illegal immigrants to do the work for cheap. Until the government cracks down on these companies that are getting away with it because the workers are too scared to come forward, there is nothing that will effectively be done to stop the wave of illegals flooding this country.

Answer 6

If you notice in the last paragraph it states that Hazleton's ILLEGAL immigration law was replaced by another law designed to withstand a legal challenge. Not sure what are you celebrating though. That the towns are trying to achieve control of an illegal activity by enacting illegal laws? that is actually hillarious!!!!!!!!!
The USA is a federal republic which means among other things that certain powers are reserved to the local govts and others to the federal. So that everyone in doubt knows, Immigration law is one of the powers constitutionally reserved to the federal government. When towns try to enact immigration law themselves, they are violating the constitution. Uhmm...wonder who is the bigger criminal there, the 9 yr old who was dragged here by their parents and stayed or the politicians ignoring the US constitution?? Whether we are satisfied or not with the job the feds are doing, that is a question to be addressed through the system and political process not by taking the law into our own hands... Want more effective immigration laws? ( I think most sensible people do.) Then start contacting your senators and congressment, register and vote and urge everyone you know to do the same. That is or at least was meant to be the American way.

Answer 7

I live in Pennsylvania. In the county in which i reside, they picked up over 1,000 illegals. 109 illegals in the actual city i live in. about 70 of them got their citizenship instead of being deported. I think they are tryin to give illegals citizenship before people vote against amnesty... :(

Answer 8

there is a town in texas doing this and now the people are trying to run the mayor out of town. it's a shame that he is unable to enforce the law and get rid of the illegals just as he gets rid of the illegal drug dealers

Answer 9

THAT is what every single city/town/village needs to do. This is how we will greatly reduce illegal immigrants. If they can't find a job and a place to live, then they will have to leave.

Answer 10

This is great.

This is also 'grassroots America taking back control'

This will spread through our nation like wind through a wheat field!

We are America!

We will keep America!

finally...I am sick of the whining of those of the church who are pleading for the "soul of the city". Let the churches pay for everything...every little thing until THEIR coffers run dry. Then, when the money is no longer so very available the churches will pay for them to leave...Churches have mega bucks....and it appears easy for them to be generous...especially when it isn't their money...