Panto's Remarks About Illegal Immigrants Taken Out of Context

At their February 12 meeting, Easton City Council took up a proposed welcoming city ordinance that was recently adopted in Allentown but rejected in Bethlehem. While the proposed ordinance still requires the city to comply with state and federal law, it bans the use of local personnel to assist in federal immigration enforcement. It does require a certifying city to shell out $12,000 to a nonprofit. Frankly, it strikes me as just the latest, and rather tone-deaf attempt at virtue signaling during a time in which voters have just elected a President who has vowed to deport undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. 

Easton Police Chief Carl Scalzo warned against this proposal. While he said he was empathetic to the cause of helping people who have come to this country in search of a better life. His worry is that with these law-abiding immigrants, "there are also individuals who come here without that good intent." He suggested some would be here to commit crimes and hurt others, including citizens and law enforcement. He worries that "welcoming city" legislation would be used by criminal aliens who "fly under the radar." "Legislation like that can be a beacon for those individuals to come here."  He also observed that his officers could face legal consequences if the ordinance were unintentionally violated. 

Chief Scalzo went on to say that Easton has a long history of supporting immigrants and that Mayor Sal Panto himself just spoke last year in support of DREAMERs. Panto also promoted a city resolution calling on the state to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. 

In response to questions from Council member Taiba Sultana, who said that a welcoming city just embraces diversity, he maintained that there are individuals who "will see that and ... They're going to go to those places where they feel like they can fly under the radar and then our officers are the ones left dealing with those individuals." Chief Scalzo conceded that most immigrants are law-abiding, but "we are seeing in our communities ... the Tren de Aragua gang and those types of elements get mixed into all of this. For sure that they do and they're looking for places where they can fly under that radar."

That was all Mayor Panto, who has used the mantra "clean and safe" since he was first elected to office, needed to hear. "I can't stand that we're here trying to do an ordinance to protect illegals. These people commit crimes. We don't want crime in our city. If you vote for this ordinance you are voting to have crime in your city."

That was that. 

Except it wasn't. Sultana used Panto's remarks to complain, in a letter to The Morning Call, that Panto's remarks about immigrants were hurtful and xenophobic. Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, a Wilson Borough activist, said Panto's reaction was "blatantly racist" in a Morning Call op-ed. 

While I'll agree that Panto was inartful in the way he expressed himself (he was angry), he was taken out of context by both Sultana and Moritz-Chapelliquen. When he said he was opposed to illegals, it was in response to Chief Scalzo's warning about illegals who commit crimes. He has a good record of supporting immigrants who may have come here illegally but are otherwise productive members of society. 

Local government should focus on local government, not the flavor of the day.