TODAY'S HERO: Not Waiting For The Fed To Do The Right Thing

One mayor in the United States appears to have stepped up in order to do the right thing with regard to illegal immigration destroying his small town.

Unlike border state areas whose bureaucracies seem to think they must stand immobile and simply "take it on the chin," the mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania has decided to unleash his city's forces not only on illegal immigrants themselves, but the businesses employing them -- a measure logical to most but unthinkable to the business world or the GOP in general.

Barletta said he had to act after two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic were charged last month with shooting and killing a man. Other recent incidents involving illegal immigrants have rattled this former coal town 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, including the arrest of a 14-year-old boy for firing a gun at a playground.

"This is crazy," said Barletta, who took office in 2000. "People are afraid to walk the streets. There's going to be law and order back in Hazleton and I'm going to use every tool I possibly can."

"Using every tool I possibly can" includes measures that would revoke the business licenses of companies and businesses employing illegal immigrants; the imposition of $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants; and making English the city's official language.

To me, these all sound like logical and rational choices -- so logical and rational, in fact, that Mayor Barletta is about to be the subject of a Fecalstorm the likes of which he's never encountered. He will frighten the Dems and the DEM because he has had the temerity to actually act, and he will frighten the GOP because he is acting whilst they are not and because he is calling for monetary sanctions on businesses.

President Bush call his packages and his approach to illegal immigration "comprehensive." Well, being comprehensive includes the taking of immediate action and cutting illegal immigrants off at one of the major sources: those who hire them.

Mayor Hazleton: bravo! You are most definitely "Today's Hero!"

BZ