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.
45 comments:
I realize that Democrats live in the world of self-delusion, but I’d like to point out that all “illegals” are law-breakers, and need to be treated as such.
Most Americans wouldn’t dream of going to any other country without complying with THEIR laws, so why should we have to tolerate those who come here by breaking OUR laws?
Somehow we have let a relatively small group of loud leftists lead us towards national suicide for fear of having them call us racists. It’s high time that THEY’RE the ones that get shouted down.
There is nothing about Panto’s comment that needs to be explained or put into context. It is correct as a stand-alone statement.
Sounds to me like Panto was right in what he said. I do, however, take issue with him supporting allowing illegals to have drivers licenses. That's all we need...not!
We welcome all legal immigrants, but If you come here illegally, you've already broken federal law. A country without borders can't survive!
Try to enter another country illegally, except in western Europe, and you'll face the consequences. Look at how well that's working for them too!
Sal has often been blunt. And he is not wrong.
You say the president is deporting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. Well, this administration considers being undocumented a crime, so they are deporting anyone undocumented regardless of what they've done while being here. They're also sending people to the facilities at Guantanamo Bay where they held people for 20 years with no trial, no formal charges, and no civil protections.
The Trump Administration has referred to undocumented people as animals, and said they are poisoning the blood of the nation. The co-president gave a Nazi salute on television and gave a speech at a rally for the far-right AfD party in Germany telling them not to feel bad about the holocaust.
The Trump Administration doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt and people should put in place as many roadblocks as possible to check their means of aggression because they have fired every IG and lawyer who might oppose them.
Easton's new city motto: "We're NOT Allentown.....YET! But we're working on it!"
It's a shame that Panto wasn't as "welcoming" to county workers and others whom he taxed for simply coming to Easton to work. Rescinding the tax is one thing. But what he should do is pay that money back (with fair interest) to those from whom he pickpocketed it. Complain about illegal criminals all you like. It's the LEGAL criminals - aka Panto and Easton city council - who stole money from workers every day. Acknowledging the crime is fine. Restitution is the next step.
You mean a politician's comments were taken out of context? Shocking!
Sal’s reaction was Sultan’s primary objective on this, along with the press clips and videos intended for social media. Mayor Panto needs to cease responding to her provocations, she effectively portrays herself as an idiot well enough on her own.
No human is illegal
We are all immigrants on stolen land.
Keep putting Democrats in office because they could care less about the Americans they represent Everything they do and I mean everything hurts our people
Ignore those who scream to make racism a part of everything they don’t agree with. That tactic is intellectually lacking of those who continue to use it.
This is why we have Trump as president. I can’t stand the guy, but democrats make it easy to win. The Democrat party is off the rails. They want to protect illegal aliens and criminals while bashing the police. They want to defend wasteful government spending. They put forth nonsense like the Wisconsin Governor wanting to change the word mother to “inseminated person” they need to run these crazies out of the party so we can win again. Stick to your guns Sal you’re a good mayor!
Sultana seems to hop on National headline grabbing stances because she has. NO clue about Local government. As an Easton resident I recently received a pamphlet on my door from Sultana. Some of her “ wins” are, drafting a resolution for the city of Easton to recognize February as Black history month. Ummm has that been happening for years before Sultana ran for office. She claims to have drafted a resolution about being upset at the overturning of RvW. what does that do for the people?? She seems to pass resolutions which mean nothing just to campaign on. BTW. She missed spelled “Estonian”.On the front of her pamphlet. They tried to write a lower case “a” on the one left at my house.
here we go with using words that end in ist or phobe to try and scare people off. It has been used so much conservatives laugh at you when you use them.
An arrested council person, a hyphenated activist and a liberal rag. Enough said.
Cities that sign on to this Welcomingbcity agenda deserve what they get. Panto was right on the money & in the end I would direct ICE to work with the cities that cooperate first & foremost.
Those that cooperate will become the safe havens for American citizens while the criminal immigrants will gravitate to those Welcoming cities. Eventually the citizens will decide they need to cooperate with ICE themselves.
Sal Panto is a Democrat which makes your first statement and last statement opposite and shows your blatant hypocrisy and partisanship.
Any council or elected body that enacts any kind of "welcoming" [sic] memorandum, legislation, or "we ain't gonna cooperate with ICE" type statement should:
1. Post the home addresses of all who voted in favor of such in an obvious place like the website or large billboard off a key entry point like the highway, or signs in the bus station and places like Safe Harbor, Rescue Mission, et al.
2. Require that all who voted in favor leave their houses unlocked at all times.
Then maybe these dullards will learn, but I doubt it.
I'll take Sal over wee willie and I'm all ears any day
And me without a barf bag
Elon put his hand on his heart and then opened his arm. That is not a Nazi salute. It is crazy that people see a man putting his hand over his heart as he is literally saying "my heart goes out to you" and take that as Nazi salute. It's mind boggling that people are that deceived.
or we could assume she was lauding her achievements in Estonia?
Stop being self-righteous and leave if you think this is stolen land.
Otherwise you are a contradicting hypocrite and should be more embarrassed to speak on a publicly with such low IQ talking points rattling around in your head.
Meanwhile, Sulktana is out there boasting how she's going to win that defamation case against Lahoud's PAC. Although Susan H-B (Sulktana's primary opponent for city council) won't need them in order to win big, it would still be funny to see her procure a few hundred of those "Crazy. Chaotic. Criminal." signs and place them around the South Side.
I was grilled by customs in the UK recently just for a lawful week on vacation. "why are you here? Where will you be staying? When will you be leaving?" I suffered even worse indignities at French customs in Paris. Imagine just walking in to stay permanently as a citizen????
What do you call someone who salutes like a Nazi, talks like a Nazi, pours money into the German Neo-Nazi party, uses Nazi iconography on a regular basis, promotes Nazi conspiracies, and reposts Nazis saying Nazi things?
Why not ask the over 250,000 that had their jobs ripped out from under them while they were sleeping, or the thousands who will be infected or in medical dire because of Bobby anti vax!!
Go find a bear head and tie it to your car to show your support.
Sal got out ahead of himself again, but he is correct. Sultana, not a true Eastonian, not even a well attending and committed council person.She will be leading her sheep around to city meetings attempting to disrupt again…
She was committed to jail once, maybe she needs a longer committed stay next time.
Immigrants. Columbus was an immigrant
she's disgraceful!
Agree 100%! BTW, 520K children were trafficked during Bidens term, and we have no idea where they are- so much for compassion!
Nonsense. Those are routine questions and take about 45 seconds.
You apparently were “triggered.”
Panto is famously thin skinned.
So-called Native Americans/Indians/First Peoples who traveled across a land bridge from Asia stole the land before whitey arrived from Europe. Read a little. History is a story of conquering and exploiting. All land has been "stolen" at some point. If whitey doesn't pay his/her taxes, the land will be stolen by other whiteys who call themselves "government."
I’ve always loved this argument because there is an extreme level of cognitive dissonance going on here. The same people say ”Columbus was an immigrant” are also the same people who wish Columbus never made his voyage. They call him a brutal savage. Can’t have it both ways. Kind of like how the left suddenly decided to follow the “sage advice” of Dick Chaney last election who, just a few years prior, was a crazy warmonger to them. Same with Pence. Same with McCain. Same with W.
If you feel so bad living on stolen land, leave.
You’re missing the posters point. Name any other sovereign nation that allows people to just walk into their country.
All the land in the world was stolen at some point lol.
Hopefully they get to 400,000 like Clinton did.
Panto like to get the last word in…..he always does this, and sometimes it comes back at him.
Elon is like Rainman ... has one or two tremendous skills, but is a mental midget otherwise and doesn't understand the actual world around him & the Orange guy is even worse because at least Elons intentions could in some cases be interpreted as innocent.
Panto is over the hill
Sultana needs to shut her mouth . She again exposes herself for blatant anti American sentiment . We don’t need a squad member in the Lehigh Valley .
We need to get her off our city council .
Anyone in the know who can successfully run against her ? Whomever that is we need to support them . Sultana has got to go !
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