Owner admits Hazleton's immigrant law didn't force store to close
Latino businessman admits that debt put his grocery store in Hazleton out of business
Sunday, March 18, 2007By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Carolyn Kaster, Associated PressJose Lechuga once claimed that he and his wife, Rosa, had to close their restaurant and grocery store in Hazleton because of police harassment. But he recently admitted in federal court that personal debt caused the collapse of his businesses. Click photo for larger image.
Matt Freed, Post-GazetteHazleton Mayor Louis Barletta wants laws to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. Click photo for larger image.
HAZLETON, Pa. -- This small city is filled with immigrants and urban legends. Most of the stories claim that the Hazleton laws aimed at throwing out illegal immigrants have harmed innocent people instead.
On North Wyoming Street, where Latino newcomers operate nearly all the businesses, many people insist that the ordinances drove out Jose and Rosa Lechuga, who owned a restaurant and grocery store.
The Lechugas, legal immigrants from Mexico, said police damaged their businesses by parking cruisers nearby. They said this was a source of intimidation to potential customers, whether they had citizenship or not.
But last week, during the early stages of the federal trial that will decide the constitutionality of Hazleton's immigration laws, city lawyers exposed the Lechugas' story as untrue.
Mr. Lechuga admitted under oath that he and his wife had failed to make their mortgage payments for months before the ordinances targeting illegal immigrants were approved. He said his Hazleton stores collapsed after he opened a second unprofitable market on the outskirts of the city.
Even more damning, Mr. Lechuga testified that most of his customers at the suburban store were illegal immigrants, primarily construction laborers. After the workers were caught in a federal raid, his suburban store had to be shuttered and he spiraled into debt.
Defenders of Hazleton's laws were exultant after his admissions. For months, the Lechugas had been held out as a symbol of all that was wrong with Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta's attempt to crack down on illegal immigrants.
Mr. Barletta said Hazleton, in Luzerne County, has had a net gain of 27 Latino-owned businesses since the Lechugas' stores closed.
"I would never be part of a law that would hurt legal immigrants," he said during a break in the trial, which is being held in U.S. District Court in Scranton. "Business is up because shootings are down on Wyoming Street."
Sunday, March 18, 2007By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Carolyn Kaster, Associated PressJose Lechuga once claimed that he and his wife, Rosa, had to close their restaurant and grocery store in Hazleton because of police harassment. But he recently admitted in federal court that personal debt caused the collapse of his businesses. Click photo for larger image.
Matt Freed, Post-GazetteHazleton Mayor Louis Barletta wants laws to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. Click photo for larger image.
HAZLETON, Pa. -- This small city is filled with immigrants and urban legends. Most of the stories claim that the Hazleton laws aimed at throwing out illegal immigrants have harmed innocent people instead.
On North Wyoming Street, where Latino newcomers operate nearly all the businesses, many people insist that the ordinances drove out Jose and Rosa Lechuga, who owned a restaurant and grocery store.
The Lechugas, legal immigrants from Mexico, said police damaged their businesses by parking cruisers nearby. They said this was a source of intimidation to potential customers, whether they had citizenship or not.
But last week, during the early stages of the federal trial that will decide the constitutionality of Hazleton's immigration laws, city lawyers exposed the Lechugas' story as untrue.
Mr. Lechuga admitted under oath that he and his wife had failed to make their mortgage payments for months before the ordinances targeting illegal immigrants were approved. He said his Hazleton stores collapsed after he opened a second unprofitable market on the outskirts of the city.
Even more damning, Mr. Lechuga testified that most of his customers at the suburban store were illegal immigrants, primarily construction laborers. After the workers were caught in a federal raid, his suburban store had to be shuttered and he spiraled into debt.
Defenders of Hazleton's laws were exultant after his admissions. For months, the Lechugas had been held out as a symbol of all that was wrong with Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta's attempt to crack down on illegal immigrants.
Mr. Barletta said Hazleton, in Luzerne County, has had a net gain of 27 Latino-owned businesses since the Lechugas' stores closed.
"I would never be part of a law that would hurt legal immigrants," he said during a break in the trial, which is being held in U.S. District Court in Scranton. "Business is up because shootings are down on Wyoming Street."
posted by jillosophy at 3/20/2007 04:18:00 PM
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