Pennsylvania trial is first test of local immigration law

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania town's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration will be challenged by civil rights campaigners in a landmark federal trial beginning on Monday that could signal whether such local laws across the country can stand up to legal challenge.

Hazleton, a community of about 30,000, set the tone for dozens of other towns across the United States when it passed a law last year imposing penalties on businesses that hire undocumented aliens, and fining landlords who rent to them. The city council also declared English the official language.

Opponents of the law -- which has not been implemented because of a court injunction -- say it discriminates against anyone who appears to be foreign or who speaks no English. They say it has created a climate of fear where immigrants, whether legal or illegal, have been harassed, businesses have closed, and some people have left town.

Backers of such laws say the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants drive down wages, burden social services, increase crime and fail to assimilate into U.S. society.

About a third of Hazleton's residents are immigrants, mostly from central America. Around a quarter of the immigrant population is thought to be illegal, according to civil rights campaigners.

The trial is the first to test a local immigration law in a U.S. federal court, said Kristina Campbell, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is following the case.

WIDELY WATCHED CASE

Amid stalled efforts by Congress and urging by the White House to enact comprehensive immigration reform, similar measures have been passed or are being considered by around 70 other communities, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a plaintiff in the Hazleton suit says.