Pennsylvania Town Raises Voice in Immigration Debate

Politicians in Congress looking to see which way the national wind is blowing on immigration ought to be keeping their eyes on Louis Barletta, the small-town rock star mayor of Hazleton, Pa.

Barletta's face has been a familiar one in the debate. He's been a darling of CNN's Lou Dobbs, the subject of a lengthy feature on "60 Minutes," and the de facto poster boy for the anti-immigration movement in this country.

In Hazleton, a former coal town (pop. 30,000) suffering from deep social and economic deterioration that goes back decades, Barletta is hailed as a defiant hero, thanks primarily to his hand-crafted Illegal Immigration Relief Act. The law, under review by a federal judge following stern challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups, establishes penalties on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. The IIRA also mandates English as the city's official language.

Just as anti-immigration stalwarts like Dobbs lionize Barletta, opponents deride him as a redneck in a jacket and tie, ignorance personified and the very face of the intolerance and cold-heartedness that typifies those looking to shutter the nation's borders. One radio host from nearby Wilkes-Barre has called Barletta "King Cruel."

Don't count most Hazleton residents, though, among Barletta's detractors. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in the city, whose population by rough estimates is now figured to be about 20 percent Hispanic, against Barletta's immigration position. Literally.

Last month's election told a stunning story in how far Hazletonians will go to protect and support their Republican mayor.

Faced with a challenger who turned out to be nothing more than token opposition, Barletta snagged an amazing 94 percent of the GOP total.

But that wasn't the day's most stunning result, not by far.

The city's mayor before Barletta took charge, Democrat Michael Marsicano, had planned to challenge Barletta in November in a campaign expected to be based on the notion that the incumbent ought to be spending more time in Hazleton and less preening in front of national television cameras. But Marsicano won't get that chance.

Barletta's supporters, looking to make a statement that their man is the one to lead the charge against illegal immigrants, launched a write-in campaign on the Democratic side in hopes of gaining the incumbent a victory on both tickets.

Amazingly, it worked. Did it ever.

Indeed, Barletta's support crossed party lines so dramatically that he won the Democratic nomination by a 2-to-1 margin. As a write-in. As a Democrat.

So what's one 30,000-person town got to do with the national political picture?

Plenty.

There are thousands of Hazletons all across this land, once-peaceful towns now bereft with crime and teeming with residents looking to blame someone, anyone, for the deterioration in their quality of life. In Hazleton, particularly, illegal immigrants have been responsible for a spate of murders and drug deals, and residents there have had as much as they're going to take.

The debate has occasionally gotten even uglier than it sounds.

At an anti-illegals rally two weeks ago in Hazleton, Amilcar Arroyo, the publisher of the city's Spanish-language newspaper El Mensajero, nearly came under attack from the riled-up mob gathered in front of City Hall when one attendee accused him - wrongly - of being part of the court challenge to the immigration law.

As Congress looks to resurrect the ailing immigration bill, they might want to speak to Louis Barletta and 30,000 mad-as-hell Hazletonians.

America's heartland has spoken.