As mayor, Louis Barletta fretted about increased crime, strains on social services and what he saw as a decline in the quality of life in Hazleton, a former coal mining town some 40 miles northwest of Allentown.

He says early last year he pinpointed what he saw as a root of many of the town's woes.

"More and more times over the past few years, I've come to realize that many of the problems that we're dealing with are too frequently caused by illegal aliens," said Barletta, who was scheduled to speak today to the Lancaster Rotary.

In June 2006, Barletta acted to address the problem by leading the passage of an ordinance that would penalize Hazleton businesses that hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.

"I had had enough. I could no longer wait for Washington to act because I had little confidence that they would," Barletta said in an interview Tuesday.

Soon after the ordinance's passage, Hazleton and Barletta became symbols of a movement among municipalities across the country to combat illegal immigration with local ordinances. He was featured on "60 Minutes" in November and on "The O'Reilly Factor" in March.

Despite recent legal setbacks, the Republican mayor says he will continue to fight.

"I believe it is time that we start standing up for the rights of Americans and the rights of those who are lawfully present in the United States," he said.

While Barletta said he never "dreamt in a million years" that his action would strike such a nerve, he now sees that many share Hazleton residents' frustration with illegal immigration.

"Although others may have fought it and felt it, nobody was saying it. Once I did, I believe those same feelings became known across the country," he said.

Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which was kept from taking effect by an injunction before a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional late last month, would fine landlords $1,000 per day for every illegal immigrant staying on their property and revoke the licenses of businesses that hire undocumented immigrants.

"I'm going to continue this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary," the 51-year-old mayor said Tuesday.

Barletta argues that since city officials would take action only after someone's immigration status has been determined by the federal government, it isn't encroaching on federal jurisdiction.

"We feel this is within our right within our municipality to regulate business licenses," he said.

Barletta says he proposed the ordinance in response to rapid changes in Hazleton, which, like Lancaster, is a third class city under Pennsylvania law.

Since 2000, Hazleton's population grew from 23,000 to an estimated 30,000 but earned income tax — the city's largest revenue source — stayed the same.

Barletta said the growing city's flat revenue was a "clear indication that there are many people who are working off the books and not paying taxes but yet receiving services that the city is providing, paid for by the taxpayers."

For Barletta, the final straw was several violent crimes in May 2006, including a case in which two illegal immigrants were charged in a fatal shooting.

"This is not to say that only illegal aliens commit crimes, but what becomes transparent is that our small budget cannot afford to be spending taxpayers' dollars on people who are not legally here," he said.

The city also passed an ordinance making English its official language.

"We are not helping the new immigrants by making it easier for them not to speak English," Barletta said.

The mayor's appearance in Lancaster was not expected to be without controversy, with at least one group saying it was planning a protest.

Barletta said his critics are often people who support open borders and use charges of racism to quiet those who disagree with them.

"Nobody wants to be labeled as a racist or a bigot. Those name callings usually are enough to scare most politicians off," he said.

"This has nothing to do with race. Illegal is illegal. There is no race in illegal."

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