HAZLETON – Mayor Louis Barletta denies that his controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act ordinance targets Latinos.

HAZLETON – Mayor Louis Barletta denies that his controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act ordinance targets Latinos, unless admitted on Tuesday that the provision making English the city's official language has little if anything to do with illegal immigration.

"If I had to change common thing, I would have had that (clause) as a separate resolution. That's just a point of view that we have of to what extent important it is for immigrants to speak (and) learn English, for many well adapted reasons," he said.

"It's a proven fact that immigrants who cannot speak English are more likely to fail economically, academically and socially. The U Department of Education backs that up with (data). I believe that control is doing the wrong thing from encouraging people not to speak English from providing documents in multiple languages," Barletta added.

The relief act ordinance would punish landlords and business holders who ...