By L.A. TARONE

The threat of a lawsuit over Mayor Louis Barletta’s proposed Illegal Immigration Relief Act has now been made formal. Late Tuesday afternoon, Barletta received a formal notice from the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York.

The letter, signed by 11 attorneys, states it is to express their “intention to challenge the act in court.”

“We believe that the act is unlawful on a number of grounds and will be invalidated by the courts,” it states.

The letter stakes out three grounds on which the organization believes the ordinance is unlawful. The first, it states, is that it “infringes on the exclusive federal power over immigration.”

“By using immigration status as a criteria to prohibit individuals from obtaining housing, using commercial or private premises, obtaining any sort of employment, or communicating with city employees in a language other than English, the act is effectively trying to regulate immigration,” it reads. “Though the City of Hazleton may not be satisfied with the job the federal government is doing in that regard, neither Hazleton nor thousands of other cities and municipalities across this country may lawfully take on that task.”

The second legally actionable grounds, the letter states, are the “impracticality of attempting to comply with the law” on the part of property owners, businesses and employers.

“Persons subject to the ordinance cannot reasonably be expected to know which acts are necessarily prohibited and which acts are permissible under the act,” the letter reads. It adds such “insurmountable obstacles to compliance” make the proposal “fundamentally unfair and thus violative” of due process.

Thirdly, the letter claims the proposal violates the First Amendment, “as it infringes upon the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, a fundamental right that lies at the core of our democracy.”

“A resident who can better communicate in a language other than English should not be prohibited from doing so with city employees when otherwise appropriate,” it states.

“We suggest also that you consider something we believe you have ignored: all persons within the United States, including those without proper documentation, are obliged to obey our laws,” the letter reads. “They also have rights under our Constitution and federal laws.”

The letter also restates the intention “to challenge this act in court is passed.”

“If such a challenge is upheld, the City of Hazleton and you as its mayor, will be subject to injunctive relief, possible monetary damages and the payment of attorney fees and costs, both for the city’s attorneys and for the attorneys who bring challenge, which can be quite substantial in a case like this.”

The letter is signed by attorneys Foster Maer, Lee Llambelis and Jackson Chin of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York; attorneys Laurence F. Norton, Peter Zurflieh and Shamaine Daniels, of the Community Justice Project, Harrisburg; attorneys Witold Walczak and Paula Knudsen, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; attorney George R. Barron, Wilkes-Barre; attorney Barry Dyller, Wilkes-Barre; and attorney David Vaida, Allentown.

The letter was sent to Barletta, city Solicitor Chris Slusser and all city council members.

Barletta said he was expecting it.

“(I’m) not surprised, not surprised at all,” Barletta said. “Obviously, they’re hoping to persuade, or scare council into backing down. It didn’t scare me and I don’t believe it will scare council either.”

“I’m comfortable that the ordinance does not violate constitutional or federal law,” Barletta said. “And I’m confident it will withstand judicial scrutiny.”

“They have a weak case in my opinion,” council President Joe Yannuzzi said. “Whether it holds up in court, we’ll see, but I don’t think so. There’s nothing unconstitutional here. There’s nothing done to illegal aliens under the ordinance at all.”

The proposal has been receiving, and continues to receive, coverage nationwide. Barletta said he has been inundated with e-mails and letters concerning IIRA. He said the overwhelming majority of correspondences have been supportive.

IIRA passed on first reading June 15 along a 4-1 vote. Yannuzzi, Vice President Jack Mundie, Evelyn Graham and Bob Nilles voted “yes.” Tom Gabos voted “no”; however, he said did so not because he opposes the intent, but because he thought the original version assigned too much responsibility to landlords.

But, as detailed in Tuesday’s Standard-Speaker, on Thursday night, council will revise the Landlords Ordinance, enacted in 2004, so that the city assumes the responsibility of registering potential tenants, relieving landlords of the responsibility under IIRA.