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Don’t cry for Hazleton.

The city in which elected officials ignored all warnings against their clumsy attempts to repel illegal immigrants – and which consequently soon could be on the hook for up to $2.8 million in legal fees – deserves little sympathy. Its pay-the-piper moment had been predicted since 2006.

Then-Mayor Lou Barletta led the charge at the time to crack down on a swelling immigrant population that he said was overburdening the city’s police department, local hospitals and certain social services. He rightly faulted the federal government for failing to act and briefly was propelled into the national spotlight for vowing to take a stand.

However, the city’s response was ill-conceived. Hazleton’s council passed ordinances that would have levied fines against landlords who knowingly leased properties to illegal immigrants and employers who knowingly hired them.

Trouble is, landlords can’t be saddled with the responsibility of verifying someone’s citizenship status. Plus, as noted in a Times Leader editorial from July 2007, soon after a federal judge shot down the unconstitutional law: “(It’s) up to the U.S. government to write and revise immigration laws, not local municipalities. That’s the way it should be, or the state and nation risk creating a patchwork of regulations that vary widely from place to place.”

Undaunted, the Hazleton crew – fanned by people from around the country calling themselves patriots and pledging financial support for a legal battle – appealed. Twice.

In an editorial printed in September 2010, the Times Leader questioned: “Why bother?

“Instead, why not devote the considerable time and energy required for another appeal into re-writing portions of the law, using the court’s critiques as a guide? Better yet, why not recognize that Hazleton’s bit role in this national saga has ended, and it’s time to pull the curtain?”

Nearly five years later, having lost its appeals, the city in Luzerne County’s southern tip awaits a judge’s ruling to find out whether it will be forced to pay the American Civil Liberties Union and others who successfully challenged the law’s legitimacy.

If compelled to hand over millions in one lump sum, Hazleton officials forewarn that the city’s $9.2 million annual budget would be decimated. Homeowners could expect to see their property taxes double, said Mayor Joe Yannuzzi, who as council president years ago voted in favor of the ordinances. Presumably, residents and businesses might abandon the tax-hungry city.

It would be ironic, then, if the elected officials who intended to preserve a place would instead have made decisions that doomed it.

In the end, maybe that’s the enduring lesson U.S. communities will take away from Hazleton’s immigration-enforcement experiment: Be very careful when you try to slam shut the door to outsiders.