Vol. 74/No. 38      October 11, 2010

Hazleton’s “Illegal Immigration Relief Act” would have denied business licenses to companies that hire undocumented immigrants. Landlords could have lost their licenses for “harboring” undocumented immigrants. Anyone 18 and older would have had to obtain a permit to rent, predicated in part on their immigration status.

The ordinance has been a rallying point for similar anti-immigrant measures in a number of other municipalities around the country.

“Federal law simply does not prohibit landlords from renting to persons who lack lawful immigration status,” wrote Chief Judge Theodore McKee. “Nor does federal law directly prohibit persons lacking lawful status from renting apartments.”

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit also noted, “If Hazleton’s ordinance is permissible, then each and every state and locality would be free to implement similar schemes for investigating, prosecuting, and adjudicating whether an employer has employed unauthorized aliens.”

The lawsuit against the measures was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Community Justice Project. In response to the decision, Agapito Lopez, president of the Hazleton Area Latino Association and one of the original plaintiffs, said, “Justice has been done.”

The day of the ruling, Hazleton’s mayor, Louis Barletta, who is the Republican congressional candidate in the 11th District, announced that the city would appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court.  
 
 
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