By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
The Associate Press
September 10, 2010
HAZLETON, Pa. — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Hazleton, Pa., may not enforce its crackdown on illegal immigrants, dealing another blow to 4-year-old regulations that inspired similar measures around the country. The city's mayor pledged to take the case to the Supreme Court.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said that Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act usurped the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration.
"It is ... not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted. We are, however, required to intervene when states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress," wrote Chief Judge Theodore McKee.
Appeals courts are split on whether states and municipalities have the right to enforce laws dealing with immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over a 2007 Arizona law that prohibits employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
Hazleton, a northeastern Pennsylvania city of more than 30,000, had sought to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. A companion measure required prospective tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.
Mayor Lou Barletta had pushed the measures in 2006 after two illegal immigrants were charged in a fatal shooting. The Republican mayor, now mounting his third try for Congress, argued that illegal immigrants brought drugs, crime and gangs to the city of more than 30,000 and overwhelmed police, schools and hospitals.
"Hazleton was the first, and became the symbol of hope for many around the country," he said at a news conference after the ruling was released by the appeals court on its website.
"Since I proposed this law more than four years ago, we have seen the growing frustration all across the country," he said, a nod to similar measures in Arizona, Farmers Branch, Texas and Valley Park, Mo.
"This frustration is not going away and it will not go away until the federal government finally secures our borders and cracks down on illegal immigration," he added.
Barletta took no questions but pledged to take the case to the Supreme Court.
"Today's decision by the 3rd Circuit Court is not unexpected. I'm not disillusioned by this ruling," Barletta said. "We knew this would not be the last stop on our journey."
Hispanic groups and illegal immigrants sued to overturn the measures, and a federal judge struck them down following a trial in 2007. The laws have never been enforced.
"This is a major defeat for the misguided, divisive and expensive anti-immigrant strategy that Hazleton has tried to export to the rest of the country," ACLU attorney Omar Jadwat said in a statement.
Hazleton's act was copied by dozens of municipalities around the nation that believe the federal government hasn't done enough to stop illegal immigration.
The crux of the debate has now shifted to Arizona and its strict new law, passed this year, that's also being challenged in court; among other things, it requires police to question the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally.
In the Hazleton case, the appeals court said the city's ordinances conflict with federal immigration law and thus are pre-empted. The employment provision could lead to discrimination against "those perceived as foreign," the court said, while the effort to prevent illegal immigrants from living in Hazleton ignores that it is the federal governments' prerogative to decide who stays and who goes.
The city's law, for example, could force out a college student the federal government has declined to remove, or a battered spouse who could be eligible to stay in the United States under protections afforded by Congress, according to the unanimous decision.
Kris Kobach, a law professor and political candidate in Kansas who worked with Hazleton on its ordinance and represented the city at trial, said Thursday that the 3rd Circuit ignored Supreme Court precedent regarding pre-emption.
"It's going to be difficult for this opinion to stand. The court really had to stretch to find a way to agree with the ACLU," said Kobach, who also helped draft Arizona's immigration law.
Hispanic immigrants began settling in large numbers in Hazleton several years ago, lured from New York, Philadelphia and other cities by cheap housing, low crime and jobs in nearby factories and farms. The city, 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, estimates its population increased by more than 10,000 between 2000 and 2006.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkWhluTKRQkgDRIl8zJOqQQSeo-gD9I4LCCG2
Showing posts with label Expulsion in PA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expulsion in PA. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Arizona on the Delaware? Philadelphia Police Aid Deportations
By Jen Rock
The Defenestrator
Sat, 2010-06-05 16:25
In late April Arizona Governor signed Senate Bill 1070 into law. SB 1070, also know as the ‘Papers Please’ law, mandates that all police officers inquire about immigration status if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” that a person is undocumented. This state sanctioned racial profiling has received intense opposition from across the country, with major political and cultural figures such as basketball player Charles Barkley speaking out against it.
Philadelphia has been participating in a program similar to SB1070 for the past 2 years.
The Philadelphia Police Department collaborates closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that focuses on deportation and detention. In the early winter of 2009 Mayor Nutter re-established a policy of "non-inquiry," which prohibits police officers or any other city employee from asking about immigration status.
Despite this policy, once a person is in police custody ICE has the opportunity to interview and/or detain that person. This happens in two ways. The first way is though a national program called Secure Communities, which shares fingerprints from local jails with ICE. In the same way that finger prints get sent to the FBI, they are now sent to ICE. The Obama administration plans to implement this program in every jail across the country by 2013.
The second way ICE obtains information is through a contract between city officials and ICE, granting ICE access to the city database listing anyone in police custody at any moment. This database is called Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) and includes name and country of origin, among other things. ICE can interview and/or detain anyone born out of the country who has been arrested, including green card holders, asylum seekers, people with Temporary Protective Status, and undocumented immigrants.
While ICE claims that these programs target violent offenders, the reality is that over 80 percent of people are deported due to minor charges including traffic violations. (Also, these policies mean that immigrants who are arrested are deported or in deportation proceedings, before any trial or conviction, undermining due process.)
Police and ICE collaborations wreak havoc in immigrant communities. Fear of deportation eliminates the opportunity for immigrants to reach out to police services when they are needed. For example, if someone is robbed, they are not going to call the police for fear that they will be arrested, and then face deportation. Or, if someone is involved in a domestic dispute, they won’t call the police out of fear that they or their spouse will be arrested and consequentially deported. This collaboration furthers marginalization of these communities through fear of police and any other government agency.
ICE claims that because these programs rely on electronic data sharing, there is no opportunity for racial profiling. On the ground, we see an escalation of all too common practices of racial profiling within the Philadelphia Police Department. Traffic stops that already happen as a result of racial profiling, can now lead to deportation. Extreme punishment for “running a stop sign.”
We don’t need Arizona’s SB 1070, or our own HR 2479. It is already happening right here in Philadelphia.
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia and many other groups around the city are working to end all collaboration between the Philadelphia Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Join us at a Public Forum in South Philadelphia on June 27th where community leaders will share their experiences and concerns about these programs with city officials, decision makers and hundreds of supporters. The location will be announced in early June.
For more information about local organizing around this issue check out www.sanctuaryphiladelphia.org. To get involved, email Jen Rock at nsmphiladelphia@gmail.com. There is a growing national movement calling for the end of all collaborations between local law enforcement and ICE. Check out http://uncoverthetruth.org, for a compilation of resources about communities in resistance.
http://defenestrator.org/ppd_aids_ice
The Defenestrator
Sat, 2010-06-05 16:25
In late April Arizona Governor signed Senate Bill 1070 into law. SB 1070, also know as the ‘Papers Please’ law, mandates that all police officers inquire about immigration status if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” that a person is undocumented. This state sanctioned racial profiling has received intense opposition from across the country, with major political and cultural figures such as basketball player Charles Barkley speaking out against it.
Philadelphia has been participating in a program similar to SB1070 for the past 2 years.
The Philadelphia Police Department collaborates closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that focuses on deportation and detention. In the early winter of 2009 Mayor Nutter re-established a policy of "non-inquiry," which prohibits police officers or any other city employee from asking about immigration status.
Despite this policy, once a person is in police custody ICE has the opportunity to interview and/or detain that person. This happens in two ways. The first way is though a national program called Secure Communities, which shares fingerprints from local jails with ICE. In the same way that finger prints get sent to the FBI, they are now sent to ICE. The Obama administration plans to implement this program in every jail across the country by 2013.
The second way ICE obtains information is through a contract between city officials and ICE, granting ICE access to the city database listing anyone in police custody at any moment. This database is called Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) and includes name and country of origin, among other things. ICE can interview and/or detain anyone born out of the country who has been arrested, including green card holders, asylum seekers, people with Temporary Protective Status, and undocumented immigrants.
While ICE claims that these programs target violent offenders, the reality is that over 80 percent of people are deported due to minor charges including traffic violations. (Also, these policies mean that immigrants who are arrested are deported or in deportation proceedings, before any trial or conviction, undermining due process.)
Police and ICE collaborations wreak havoc in immigrant communities. Fear of deportation eliminates the opportunity for immigrants to reach out to police services when they are needed. For example, if someone is robbed, they are not going to call the police for fear that they will be arrested, and then face deportation. Or, if someone is involved in a domestic dispute, they won’t call the police out of fear that they or their spouse will be arrested and consequentially deported. This collaboration furthers marginalization of these communities through fear of police and any other government agency.
ICE claims that because these programs rely on electronic data sharing, there is no opportunity for racial profiling. On the ground, we see an escalation of all too common practices of racial profiling within the Philadelphia Police Department. Traffic stops that already happen as a result of racial profiling, can now lead to deportation. Extreme punishment for “running a stop sign.”
We don’t need Arizona’s SB 1070, or our own HR 2479. It is already happening right here in Philadelphia.
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia and many other groups around the city are working to end all collaboration between the Philadelphia Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Join us at a Public Forum in South Philadelphia on June 27th where community leaders will share their experiences and concerns about these programs with city officials, decision makers and hundreds of supporters. The location will be announced in early June.
For more information about local organizing around this issue check out www.sanctuaryphiladelphia.org. To get involved, email Jen Rock at nsmphiladelphia@gmail.com. There is a growing national movement calling for the end of all collaborations between local law enforcement and ICE. Check out http://uncoverthetruth.org, for a compilation of resources about communities in resistance.
http://defenestrator.org/ppd_aids_ice
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Teens face trial in beating death
Teens face trial in beating death
Three Schuylkill County teenagers are headed to trial in connection with thebeating death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
BY DUSTIN PANGONISSTAFF WRITER
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4:26 AM EDT
Three Schuylkill County teenagers are headed to trial in connection with thebeating death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker dismissed first- and second-degreemurder charges against two accused assailants in the beating death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala in a preliminary hearing Monday, but all other chargeswill go to trial.
After a six-hour hearing in a packed Courtroom 5 in the Schuylkill CountyCourthouse, Kilker ruled at 3:30 p.m. there was sufficient evidence on theremaining charges against all defendants.
Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, both of Shenandoah Heights,and Derrick M. Donchak, 18, of Shenandoah, face charges in connection with theJuly 14 death of Ramirez, 25, of 15 N. Main St., Shenandoah, who died frominjuries suffered in a beating two days earlier.
http://www.standardspeaker.com/articles/2008/08/19/news/hz_standspeak.20080819.a.pg1.hz19_prhearing_s1.1887780_top2.txt
Three Schuylkill County teenagers are headed to trial in connection with thebeating death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
BY DUSTIN PANGONISSTAFF WRITER
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4:26 AM EDT
Three Schuylkill County teenagers are headed to trial in connection with thebeating death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker dismissed first- and second-degreemurder charges against two accused assailants in the beating death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala in a preliminary hearing Monday, but all other chargeswill go to trial.
After a six-hour hearing in a packed Courtroom 5 in the Schuylkill CountyCourthouse, Kilker ruled at 3:30 p.m. there was sufficient evidence on theremaining charges against all defendants.
Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, both of Shenandoah Heights,and Derrick M. Donchak, 18, of Shenandoah, face charges in connection with theJuly 14 death of Ramirez, 25, of 15 N. Main St., Shenandoah, who died frominjuries suffered in a beating two days earlier.
http://www.standardspeaker.com/articles/2008/08/19/news/hz_standspeak.20080819.a.pg1.hz19_prhearing_s1.1887780_top2.txt
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Mexican’s Death Bares a Town’s Ethnic Tension
August 5, 2008
Mexican’s Death Bares a Town’s Ethnic Tension
By SEAN D. HAMILL
SHENANDOAH, Pa. — Crystal Dillman knows that four teenagers have been charged in the death of her fiancé, Luis Ramirez, that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is monitoring the case and that most people in this small town in the Appalachian Mountains believe it was a horrible crime.
But Ms. Dillman, the mother of Mr. Ramirez’s two young children, is not sure justice will prevail.
“I think they might get off,” she said of the four teenagers, “because Luis was an illegal Mexican and these are ‘all-American boys’ on the football team who get good grades, or whatever they’re saying about them. They’ll find some way to let them go.”
The case has raised similar concerns among Latinos across the country.
“For many Latinos, this is a case of enough is enough,” said Gladys Limón, a staff lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “And it can help us get attention to the wider issue that this is happening all over the country, not just to illegal immigrants, but legal, and anyone who is perceived to be Latino.”
Mr. Ramirez, 25, who had been in the country illegally for six years, picking crops and working in factories, died July 14 from head injuries received two days earlier.
Investigators said he had gotten into a fight with a group of teenage boys — most or all of them members of the town’s high school football team, the Blue Devils — who left him unconscious in a residential street, foaming at the mouth.
Exactly what happened during the fight is still hotly debated on Internet message boards in Shen’doh, as the town is called, with some saying it was just a street fight that went bad, and others claiming the teenagers singled out a Mexican immigrant for a beating and made anti-Mexican remarks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/05attack.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1217941222-P+I8DtqYwlT9vhhi61LuSw
Mexican’s Death Bares a Town’s Ethnic Tension
By SEAN D. HAMILL
SHENANDOAH, Pa. — Crystal Dillman knows that four teenagers have been charged in the death of her fiancé, Luis Ramirez, that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is monitoring the case and that most people in this small town in the Appalachian Mountains believe it was a horrible crime.
But Ms. Dillman, the mother of Mr. Ramirez’s two young children, is not sure justice will prevail.
“I think they might get off,” she said of the four teenagers, “because Luis was an illegal Mexican and these are ‘all-American boys’ on the football team who get good grades, or whatever they’re saying about them. They’ll find some way to let them go.”
The case has raised similar concerns among Latinos across the country.
“For many Latinos, this is a case of enough is enough,” said Gladys Limón, a staff lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “And it can help us get attention to the wider issue that this is happening all over the country, not just to illegal immigrants, but legal, and anyone who is perceived to be Latino.”
Mr. Ramirez, 25, who had been in the country illegally for six years, picking crops and working in factories, died July 14 from head injuries received two days earlier.
Investigators said he had gotten into a fight with a group of teenage boys — most or all of them members of the town’s high school football team, the Blue Devils — who left him unconscious in a residential street, foaming at the mouth.
Exactly what happened during the fight is still hotly debated on Internet message boards in Shen’doh, as the town is called, with some saying it was just a street fight that went bad, and others claiming the teenagers singled out a Mexican immigrant for a beating and made anti-Mexican remarks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/05attack.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1217941222-P+I8DtqYwlT9vhhi61LuSw
Friday, July 25, 2008
Pa. teens charged in fatal beating of immigrant
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
MSNBC
July 25th, 2008
Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.
A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred.
Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, a small, economically depressed town where police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population.
The suspects played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season.
"As a result of this crime, a young man has lost his life. Many other lives have been devastated, and the borough of Shenandoah has been filled with tensions between many ethnic groups," Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman said.
"Now that the criminal charges have been filed, we must let this case be handled in the criminal justice system," he said.
According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds encountered Ramirez, 25, and a teenage girl in a park the night of July 12.
The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said. After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, "What's your problem?"
A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said.
All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries.
Piekarsky and Walsh were being held without bail, while Donchak was held on $75,000 bail.
Lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said their clients are not guilty and that there was no evidence to support the homicide charges. They also said they would try to have the case removed to juvenile court.
Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer, said the police affidavit "pretty much describes chaos, and what you have then after the fact is somebody trying to sort through that and attribute certain acts to certain individuals."
He said that although slurs might have been used, the fight was not motivated by ethnicity.
"I think any time there's a fight and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs," he said. "I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently."
Frederick Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he is "surprised and disappointed" that his client faces a homicide charge, attributing Ramirez's death to a "street fight that ended tragically."
Donchak declined to comment.
Ramirez, who entered the U.S. illegally about six years ago, worked in a factory and picked strawberries and cherries.
Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up in Shenandoah, has said Ramirez was often called derogatory names and told to return to his homeland. The couple had two children together, and Dillman also has a 3-year-old who thought of Ramirez as her father.
"I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with," Dillman said.
Preliminary hearings for all three suspects were set for Aug. 4.
Goodman said a fourth teen will be charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and that charges also will be filed against a man who provided alcohol to the defendants hours before the attack.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25854696/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts
MSNBC
July 25th, 2008
Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.
A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred.
Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, a small, economically depressed town where police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population.
The suspects played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season.
"As a result of this crime, a young man has lost his life. Many other lives have been devastated, and the borough of Shenandoah has been filled with tensions between many ethnic groups," Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman said.
"Now that the criminal charges have been filed, we must let this case be handled in the criminal justice system," he said.
According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds encountered Ramirez, 25, and a teenage girl in a park the night of July 12.
The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said. After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, "What's your problem?"
A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said.
All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries.
Piekarsky and Walsh were being held without bail, while Donchak was held on $75,000 bail.
Lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said their clients are not guilty and that there was no evidence to support the homicide charges. They also said they would try to have the case removed to juvenile court.
Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer, said the police affidavit "pretty much describes chaos, and what you have then after the fact is somebody trying to sort through that and attribute certain acts to certain individuals."
He said that although slurs might have been used, the fight was not motivated by ethnicity.
"I think any time there's a fight and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs," he said. "I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently."
Frederick Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he is "surprised and disappointed" that his client faces a homicide charge, attributing Ramirez's death to a "street fight that ended tragically."
Donchak declined to comment.
Ramirez, who entered the U.S. illegally about six years ago, worked in a factory and picked strawberries and cherries.
Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up in Shenandoah, has said Ramirez was often called derogatory names and told to return to his homeland. The couple had two children together, and Dillman also has a 3-year-old who thought of Ramirez as her father.
"I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with," Dillman said.
Preliminary hearings for all three suspects were set for Aug. 4.
Goodman said a fourth teen will be charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and that charges also will be filed against a man who provided alcohol to the defendants hours before the attack.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25854696/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts
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