Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

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In Pennsylvania’s 11th district, Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke) faces a serious challenge from Mayor Lou Barletta (R-Hazleton), who has earned a reputation as a crusader against illegal immigration since the Kanjorski last faced him in 2002.
The map above shows a few points of interest in the 11th, including major cities, historical landmarks […]

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Over the past several years, Hazleton, Pa., has attracted thousands of Hispanic immigrants, most of them from the Dominican Republic. This influx lead to conflict over illegal immigration in 2006 and 2007, thrusting Mayor Lou Barletta into the national news. This year, Barletta is running for Congress, his campaign based largely on that issue. “I […]

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At the Columbia News21 project on immigration and elections, we began our reporting this summer with many story ideas and a whole country to work with. To help focus our efforts, we put together a Google map (see below) where we indicated electoral races that might be useful in our coverage of immigration (blue pins), […]

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I’m off to Hazleton, Penn., today to follow Mayor Lou Barletta’s run for Congress and look at the impact of illegal immigration on his town and his district. Hazleton is a small city (pop. about 30,000) in Northeast Pennsylvania’s anthracite region. Its economy was once based on coal, but in recent decades the city has […]

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An intriguing look at the local politics-immigration equation came from National Public Radio last week, in a three-part series on immigration controversies from the front-lines of Arizona.
In part one, “‘America’s Toughest Sheriff’ Takes on Immigration,” reporter Ted Robbins looks at how Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix courts publicity with his innovative jail policies, which […]

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During the State of the Union address last week, Pres. Bush’s mention of immigration came largely in the context of border security and illegal entry, his remarks segueing directly into warnings against the threat of terrorism
That’s certainly one way to look at the politics of immigration in this country, as a question of illegals, domestic […]

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