Barletta grilled on views (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader)

By STEVE MOCARSKY
Staff Writer

SCRANTON – It wasn’t very far into Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta’s testimony Wednesday before he used what has become his now-famous catch phrase – “Illegal is illegal” – in the Illegal Immigration Relief Act trial.

“It will be on my tombstone, I’m sure,” Barletta said, eliciting laughter from attorneys and spectators in the courtroom.

It was one of the lighter moments in the proceedings during which Barletta was grilled for a total of more than four hours on the witness stand.

The mayor locked horns with the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, determined to defend his city in what many see as the hottest current trial in the nation.

Attorney Vic Walczak began taking Barletta through his educational and political history before questioning him on conditions in the city that Barletta says led him to ask city council to adopt the relief act in June 2006.

That ordinance and a related landlord/tenant registration ordinance would fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, suspend business licenses of those who employ them, and require all city tenants to provide proof of residency status.

Barletta and council members contend illegal immigrants are straining city resources and are partially responsible for an overcrowded hospital emergency room and overcrowded and failing schools.

The ACLU and others sued the city in August to have the laws declared unconstitutional.

Barletta acknowledged that an influx of mostly Latino immigrants into the city since 2001 has helped the city recover from a $1.2 million deficit when he took office in 2000, and contributed to a major downtown revitalization and local real estate boon.

He said he was welcoming of “legal immigrants,” but not illegal immigrants.

Barletta acknowledged that the arrest of two illegal immigrants in the May 2006 fatal shooting of Derek Kichline – and other violent crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants – spurred him to propose the ordinance, which is modeled after one proposed in San Bernardino, Calif.

Asked if he knew how many of the immigrants in Hazleton were illegal, Barletta said no one could know that, nor does anyone know how many illegal immigrants are in the United States.

Asked if he had data from any city department other than the police to show that illegal immigrants lived in the city, Barletta pointed to the tax office.

Barletta said that although Walczak pointed out a nearly $1 million jump in assessed property values in the city between 2004 and 2006, Walczak failed to note that the city saw no significant increase in earned income taxes.

Barletta used that fact to support his assertion that many of the city’s new residents are illegal immigrants because he “can assume a good portion of the population is either not working or not reporting income,” he said.

The mayor admitted he never saw statistics from the police chief on crime rates in the city, but he pointed to a June 2006 Times Leader story that detailed a rise in violent crime in the city over the past several years. He also said Police Chief Robert Ferdinand told him 30 percent of all drugs arrests in 2005 were illegal immigrants.

Barletta admitted he had no idea how many illegal immigrants might be employed, living or attending school in the city.

While acknowledging illegal immigrants might contribute to the local economy, he alluded to a study – to be presented by an expert witness – that contends that illegal immigrants cost state and local governments $65 billion a year more than they contribute in sales taxes.

After testimony ended for the day, Walczak said Barletta didn’t have “a whole lot of data to support the claims that he’s made about undocumented threats destroying the city of Hazleton.”

Walczak said Barletta has been “giving his sound bites for nine months,” but the judge “was helpful in instructing him when he was resorting to sound bites that he really does need to answer the questions.”

U.S. District Judge James Munley twice cautioned Barletta to answer questions simply – preferably with a yes or no – and add clarification only if necessary while being questioned by the plaintiffs’ attorney. He told the mayor he could clarify answers and tell his story on direct examination by the city’s attorney.

Barletta said after the proceedings that he was eager to do so.

Attorney Kris W. Kobach, who is representing the city, said during a lunch break that Barletta is a “tough witness” for the plaintiffs to handle. “He’s actually answering the questions,” but in a way the plaintiffs’ attorneys don’t like, he said.

“The plaintiffs are trying to build a case around a theory that a city council has to commission an independent consultant or an independent statistician every time it acts. … The constitutional obligation is simply that cities act reasonably,” Kobach said.

Also testifying Wednesday was Manuel Saldana – president of Casa Dominicana – a Hazleton area Latino organization formed to help natives of the Dominican Republic. He testified that group membership dropped 25 percent after the relief act was passed.

Saldana said he heard from three of the 35 members who left. He said two expressed fear of apprehension from authorities because they were here illegally; one was here legally but sold her rental property and left because she couldn’t find tenants to rent the property after the ordinance was passed.

He also testified that the legal member never attributed her inability to find tenants to the ordinance, but Saldana said “it was obvious.”