Northern New Jersey town considers law that would fine landlords for renting to illegals

September 1, 2006

Newton, New Jersey may become the first community in the northern part of the state to crack down on illegal immigration. The town is considering a law that would impose fines on landlords who rent apartments to undocumented immigrants and on businesses that hire them.

The proposal would also make English the official language in the town.

Newton is the latest in a number of small towns across the nation seeking to take a hard line against illegal immigration by punishing landlords and businesses. Newton's proposal is modeled after an ordinance which was adopted in August in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

'We have similar issues with illegal immigrants,' Councilman Diglio said. 'We've seen a big increase in crime this year,' including a knife fight at an apartment on Spring Street in May that police said was among four illegal Mexican immigrants.

There also was a fire on Main Street at an apartment where illegal immigrants lived, said Diglio, who also cited growing incidences of 'stacking,' or the packing of more people -- who tend to be illegal immigrants -- into apartments than allowed.

Diglio's plan would require non-citizens to bring green cards, visas and working papers to town hall for verification before being allowed to rent or be hired for a job. Any business owner who hired an illegal immigrant would be denied businesses permits and city contracts for five years, and landlord fines would range from $1,000 for a first offense to $10,000 for three or more offenses.

The ordinances in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and in Riverside, Burlington County, New Jersey, have already spawned lawsuits.

There has been no public outcry against illegal immigrants in Newton. In April, a Hispanic outreach center, El Refugio (The Refuge), was opened in Newton by some churches and a nonprofit agency aiming to integrate a growing immigrant population and prevent culture clashes or problems.

Newton's debate is a microcosm of a national problem caused by a flood of illegal immigrants straining the system, and the federal government's failure to secure the borders or enforce the laws, said Diglio and New Jersey State League of Municipalities president Bill Dressel.

'I don't want to pit any group against any other group,' Diglio said. 'I just want to see these people to be documented to pay back into system they're taking from. If the federal government would control the borders like it should be, we wouldn't be dealing with this. If every municipality across the country would do this, then maybe the problem wouldn't exist.'

At the center of the debate has been Hazleton, a former coal-mining city of 25,000 residents near the intersection of Interstates 80 and 81 in northeastern Pennsylvania that has seen a culture clash from a large influx of illegal immigrants in recent years.

In July, the Hazleton City Council passed the 'Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act' that targets landlords and employers and has become a model across the nation.

Hazleton Council Vice President Jack Mundie said the ordinance was needed due to the toll that illegal immigrants were taking on the city's hospital and schools. The hospital had to expand its emergency room, and the school district's English as a Second Language budget soared from virtually zero to nearly a million dollars in the last few years. Hazleton's ordinance also came in response to some high-profile shootings involving illegal immigrants. Mundie said an influx of illegal immigration to Hazleton has been increasing over the past five years, and a new meat-packing plant that supplies meat to Wal-Mart was one of the attractions.

'We had to step in because no one else is stepping in,' Mundie said. 'Hopefully, sooner or later, maybe the federal government will wake up and do something about it. They're dragging their feet.'

It's not known how many illegal immigrants are living in Newton, which had a population of about 8,400 in 2005, according to the Census.

'As time goes by, more and more illegal immigrants move in,' said Newton Councilman Joe Ricciardo. He's not sure if Diglio's plan is the answer, but 'something has to be done,' especially about stacking.

Immigration is of 'major concern to municipalities up and down the state,' particularly regarding rental overcrowding, Dressel said. Riverside and Newton demonstrate 'that local officials are taking matters in their own hands ... because there doesn't seem to be any leadership coming from the federal government nor from the state government,' Dressel said. 'It's a quality-of-life issue that deals with the community on a whole.'

Such laws are being considered in nearly 50 municipalities nationwide, Rivera said.

Diglio, whose grandparents came from Italy and Portugal, thinks English-only laws will help with integration.

'The strength of this country was founded by immigrants. They came here and wanted to be Americans, they got legal status as Americans,' Diglio said. 'Today, we have a group of people who don't want to contribute to society ... It seems they don't want to acclimate themselves.'