Believe In America.com

butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269

ALTOONA -- Miguel Padilla, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, visited Altoona one night and murdered three people after being denied admission to a social club.

He had been in the United States for 17 years and had accumulated an arrest record before he shot his victims. Even so, the U.S. government neglected to deport him, a lapse that led hometown Congressman Bill Shuster to question the competence of the federal bureaucracy responsible for policing immigration.

This month, more than a year after the murders, Altoona implemented a law of its own aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of town. The ordinance, which took effect a week ago, would punish businesses that hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

A railroad and industrial town of 47,000 people, Altoona is the largest Pennsylvania city to approve an immigration ordinance.

Republican Mayor Wayne Hippo, who pushed for the law, said he was inspired by the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Hazleton, the first town to approve an ordinance designed to root out illegal immigrants.

Aside from the laws they passed, Hazleton and Altoona have almost nothing in common.

Hazleton, 130 miles from New York City, had a booming population of Latino immigrants when it passed its law. Mayor Louis Barletta says thousands of the newcomers are in the county illegally, creating havoc for Hazleton police and straining other city services.

Two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged with shooting and killing a Hazleton man in May.

"After that, our people were afraid to walk down the street," Mr. Barletta said. "I had to do something to protect them."

But the mayor's critics say all his law accomplished was to unleash a wave of bigotry against brown-skinned newcomers, many of whom are naturalized U.S. citizens who hold jobs and pay taxes.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06288/730170-85.stm