HAZLETON – Mayor Louis Barletta said a shootout Wednesday outside a football stadium reinforces his argument that the city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act needs to be enforced.

Officers Shawn Conti and Keith McAlarney were wounded when George Thomas Deeb III opened fire on them outside Harman Geist Stadium. They and Cpl. John Leonard returned fire after a prolonged gunbattle that resulted in Deeb’s death.

Although Deeb was not an illegal immigrant, Barletta says they drain city finances, including police resources.

“Fortunately (Wednesday) night, we had three officers on duty,” Barletta said, adding that the city is operating in a deficit.

By TOM RAGAN
ragan@standardspeaker.com

An illegal immigrant using different names was charged with assault and intimidation of a victim after an incident at 16th and Alter streets Saturday night, police said.

Hazleton police arrested 19-year-old Jose Ramos, who shared an apartment with the 19-year-old female victim in the 800 block of Alter Street in Hazleton.

Police answered a call to the address about a female being assaulted. They found the victim at a pay phone at the same address.

She told police she had been in an argument with Ramos and she said he was using multiple identifications and sometimes went by the name of Jose Perez.

Illegal immigration is not just a national issue.

Small communities all over the nation are becoming concerned about the impact of illegal immigrants within their boundaries, with nearby Hazleton attracting the most attention for an ordinance it is attempting to enact regarding illegal immigrants.

Should Williamsport follow suit?

At least one City Councilman, Gabriel J. Campana, is publicly concerned about illegals coming to the city.

But there the gulf between concern and urgency should be respected.

In this case, the input of city police, who would deal in the field every day with such an issue, should determine whether legislation is needed regarding illegal immigrants in Williamsport.

One man is in the hospital and another is being held as an illegal immigrant as Hazleton police investigate a stabbing in a home along the 800 block of North Vine Street early Saturday morning.

The victim, 22-year-old Fernando Rojas-Casado of Hazleton, was stabbed in the chest, according to police.

Rojas-Casado was found staggering in the area of 17th and Alter streets and was transported to Hazleton General Hospital by a passing motorist around 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

Rojas-Casado suffered the stab wound about 15 minutes earlier, police said.

He was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital from HGH via helicopter. A hospital spokesman at Lehigh Valley Hospital declined to release his condition Saturday evening.

By L.A. TARONE
Standard-Speaker

A man in the country illegally is in Luzerne Country prison on drug charges after a series of undercover buys by the Hazleton Police Department.

When arrested, the man initially told police his name was Rafael Antonio Lora and that he was born in Puerto Rico, which would have made him an American citizen by birth.

However, police determined his real name was Carlos Peralta and that he was in the country illegally from the Dominican Republic.

In fact, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported he’d been deported on July 22, 1999, and had “no record of legal re-entry.”

(CBS) One of the biggest issues facing the new Congress is what to do about immigration policy and what to do about the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants now living in the U.S. Not that long ago it was a problem in a half dozen border states, today it impacts virtually the entire country.

Frustrated with the lack of action in Washington, local communities are taking matters into their own hands, by passing laws and ordinances specifically designed to drive illegal immigrants out of their towns. And they are doing by denying them places to live and work. It has raised all sorts of issues and touched off a legal fight that is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme court. And as correspondent Steve Kroft reports, it’s being fought of all places, in a city called Hazleton.

Mayor Lou Barletta, the City of Hazleton, and the Illegal Immigration Relief Act are scheduled to appear on the CBS news magazine show "60 Minutes" on Sunday, November 19.

Check local listings for the time of your area's broadcast.

From the "60 Minutes" Web page:
WELCOME TO HAZLETON - The real battle over illegal immigration is not at the Mexican border, it's in small cities like Hazleton, Pa., where Steve Kroft finds a town divided over its new Spanish-speaking residents. Janet Klein is the producer.

Note: Changing world events may cause the postponement of the segment.

SPRINGDALE - Springdale could become the second Northwest Arkansas city to look at illegal alien ordinances.

Alderman Ray Dotson, at the close of Tuesday's City Council meeting, asked City Attorney Jeff Harper to look at an ordinance to curb illegal aliens living in Springdale. Rogers Mayor Steve Womack proposed an ordinance to restrict housing and employment in his city at the end of October.

"If they pass an ordinance in Rogers, all of the illegals will move down here," Dotson said. "We need to protect the citizens and the legal immigrants in Springdale."

An ordinance passed in Hazleton, Penn., was the starting point for Rogers. A federal judge blocked enforcement of the Hazleton ordinances in October, after the American Civil Liberties Union and Hispanic groups filed a lawsuit.

By ALAN GREGORY
Standard-Speaker Staff Writer

A well-known Philadelphia restaurateur has contributed $10,000 to the fund the city of Hazleton set up for the legal defense of its Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

“I’m behind you 100 percent,” Joey Vento, the owner of Geno’s Steaks, wrote in a handwritten note to Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” the South Philadelphia cheesesteak king wrote.

Barletta, speaking by phone from his office Monday morning, said he met Vento last summer, having been invited to Philadelphia “because of my stance here in the city against illegal immigration. So we formed a friendship because of that meeting.”

By PATRICK McGEE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

FARMERS BRANCH - Despite loud protests from scores of pro-immigrant demonstrators, the City Council adopted ordinances Monday night to crack down on illegal immigration and to make English the city's official language.

Opponents of illegal immigration cheered when the council voted unanimously to pass ordinances that will:

Require city officials to conduct nearly all official business in English.

Prohibit landlords from renting apartments to people who cannot prove their citizenship or legal status.

Have city police enter into a cooperative agreement with federal immigration officials to target "criminal aliens."