In Missouri, a state judge ruled this month that Missouri law did not authorize two Valley Park ordinances to punish businesses and landlords hiring or renting to illegal immigrants. And in California, Escondido passed an ordinance in October to fine landlords renting to illegal immigrants, but withdrew it after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order.
After the trial ended, a plaintiff's attorney with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Foster Maer, said that if Hazleton's ordinances were enforced, there would be "complete chaos, with every town having its own foreign policy."
Maer said he felt hopeful that Munley understood that Hazleton's ordinances would worsen a "racially divisive atmosphere" in which Latinos -- in the country illegally or not -- felt targeted by law enforcement.
During the trial, legal Latino residents of Hazleton testified they had received hate mail or had been discriminated against since the ordinances were introduced. Others said Latino residents had fled the city as a result.
Mayor Louis J. Barletta, who has become a national icon for towns trying to curtail illegal immigration, said he felt confident Hazleton would prevail.
If not, he said, the city is prepared to take the fight to the Supreme Court.
"I'm proud to be defending the United States' citizens and workers," Barletta said after the trial ended.
A former coal-mining town northwest of Philadelphia, Hazleton saw its population increase by about 50%, to 31,000, in five years, mostly because of Latinos who left New York after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the last two years, illegal immigrants have accounted for an increasing proportion of the city's drug arrests and suspects in more serious crimes, including assault and murder, Kobach said, citing law enforcement officials' testimony.
New residents have also strained Hazleton's public school and health systems, Kobach said, referring to local officials' testimony about increases in spending on English as a second language and in emergency-room waits.
Walczak said most illegal immigrants came to Hazleton with "hopes and dreams to make a better life."
They raised children, paid taxes and contributed to the revitalization of the town that had been struggling financially, he said. In the last three years, he said, Hazleton's property values have increased.
In his closing arguments, Walczak accused Hazleton's attorneys of exaggerating the crime problem.
Of 8,500 crimes committed in Hazleton in six years, he said, the city can only prove that 20 were committed by illegal immigrants.
Hazleton, he said, "is trying to demoralize illegal immigrants."
erika.hayasaki@latimes.com
