((PKG)) HAZLETON, PA
((Banner: Immigration))
((Reporter: Aline Barros))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Map: Hazleton, Pennsylvania))
((NATS))
((Banner: Hazleton, Pennsylvania has a rapidly rising Hispanic population))
((Frank DeAndrea, Former Hazleton Police Chief))
Hazleton has always been my home. I watched Hazleton transform as a Pennsylvania State Police Trooper. Fear is an ugly thing. And it doesn’t really happen to a human being. It happens to a community where a community becomes so afraid, they can’t move forward.
((Banner: Immigration is a heated issue in this year’s Congressional race))
((NATS))
I’m a volunteer for the Republican Party and are you planning to vote on the midterms?
((Connie Cramey, Republican Candidate Supporter, Greater Hazleton Area)) When I knock on doors, Lou Barletta gets a welcome. He supports very much my president, Donald Trump’s agenda: law and order, and hopefully we can work to send him as a senator to Washington.
((NATS))
((Connie Cramey, Republican Candidate Supporter, Greater Hazleton Area)) Well, I hear a lot about immigration. I hear a lot about integration. I believe that if the Latino or Hispanic community wants to be part of the America, first of all, you’ve got to come here legally, get the jobs, learn English. And I don’t see that as anything as discriminatory or racist.
((NATS))
((Amilcar Arroyo, Resident, Greater Hazleton Area; Publisher of El Mensajero Newspaper))
We have people, Latino people, and they are Republican which is not bad. I was at the beginning a Republican and believe me, I still been a Republican in my heart, with the same philosophy of the Republicans. But when the Republicans went too far to the right, that’s no good. That’s no good. You have to have compassion for the new people. You have to be understanding of the new people. You have to understand diversity. The society’s changing and we can’t forget that Hazleton was diverse 100 years ago.
((NATS))
((Dorothy George, Resident, Greater Hazleton Area))
Keep in mind that we have a lot of Irish, a lot of Italians, and they all, years ago, came here as immigrants and they did get along, but they each had their own section of the city. But eventually they learned to get along with each other, yes. So, I think it’s just going to take some time.
((NATS))
((Amilcar Arroyo, Resident, Greater Hazleton Area; Publisher of El Mensajero Newspaper))
We have to get more involved in local politics. We need to see the politics and the politicians and the elections in this area, in Hazleton.
((NATS))
