From "Owner admits Hazleton's immigrant law didn't force store to close":

...Most of the stories claim that the Hazleton laws aimed at throwing out illegal immigrants have harmed innocent people instead...

...[Jose and Rosa Lechuga; in English, "lechuga" = "lettuce"], legal immigrants from Mexico, said police damaged their businesses by parking cruisers nearby. They said this was a source of intimidation to potential customers, whether they had citizenship or not.

But last week, during the early stages of the federal trial that will decide the constitutionality of Hazleton's immigration laws, city lawyers exposed the Lechugas' story as untrue.

He was far behind on his mortgage payments, and a suburban store he opened failed because many of the customers were illegal aliens who were picked up in a federal raid.

And, "Mr. Lechuga testified that most of his customers at the suburban store were illegal immigrants."

Now, let's turn to October 31, 2006's "Federal Judge Blocks Hazleton Anti-Immigrant Ordinance, Says Law Causes Harm to Legal Immigrants" from the ACLU of Pennsylvania (aclupa.org/pressroom/federaljudgeblockshazleton.htm):

A federal judge today issued a temporary order [aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file230_27227.pdf] blocking anti-immigrant ordinances from being enforced in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, noting that the laws could cause "irreparable injury" to the city's residents. The ordinances were challenged in court by local business owners, landlords and residents who would be negatively impacted by the laws.

In issuing the order, Judge James M. Munley cited examples of citizens and non-citizens who stand to risk "housing, livelihood, and education" if the ordinances are enforced, including Brenda Lee Mieles, a United States citizen who may be evicted from her residence because of her inability to establish her citizenship, and Rosa and Jose Luis Lechuga, who continue to suffer a great loss of business in their store and restaurant. In contrast, he found, the city had not supported any of its "vague complaints about the presence of illegal immigrants" with evidence or statistics...

I'd say that federal judge - a Democrat - owes us an explanation, and Lechuga and the ACLU owe the judge an explanation as well. From the TRO:

For example, Plaintiff Jane Doe 1 risks being evicted from her apartment along with her two young children, although not an "illegal alien" under the laws of the United States...

As discussed in the First Amended Complaint of October 30, 2006 (aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file429_27220.pdf) she's applying for LPR under the VAWA; it would seem like the ACLU could work with Hazleton to deal with such most likely highly rare cases. Er, why didn't they? Then, we get to the lettuce couple:

Plaintiffs Rosa and Jose Luis Lechuga have suffered and continue to suffer a great loss of business in their store and restaurant located in Hazleton, which they blame on the ordinances...A monetary price cannot be placed on such matters as plaintiffs' housing, livelihood and education.

From the First Amended Complaint:

16. Plaintiffs Rosa and Jose Luis Lechuga ("Lechuga") are husband and wife and are residents of Hazleton. Plaintiffs Lechuga own a grocery store in Hazleton. They formerly owned a restaurant in Hazleton as well. 17. Plaintiffs Lechuga came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1981. They moved to Hazleton in 1991 to work on tomato and cucumber farms. 18. Plaintiffs Lechuga opened their store approximately eight years ago; they opened their restaurant at the beginning of 2006. 19. Plaintiffs Lechuga have lost significant revenue since the Immigration Ordinance and its predecessor - Ordinance 2006-10 - were enacted. Before the enactment of the Prior Ordinances, Plaintiffs Lechuga served between 45-130 customers per day at he restaurant, and between 95-130 customers per day at the store. Since the enactment of the Prior Ordinance, they served between 6-7 persons per day at the restaurant and 20-23 persons per day at the store. The loss in revenue and profit resulting from the passage of the Prior and New Ordinances has forced Plaintiffs Lechuga to close the restaurant. Plaintiffs Lechuga remain obligated to pay rent for the restaurant location under a lease.

We now know that some of the drop-off is apparently due to other factors.

And, let's turn to the March 12, 2007 post from the ACLU-PA's blog (aclupa.blogspot.com/2007/03/if-you-speak-english-youre-not-criminal.html):

In the afternoon session at the Hazleton anti-immigrant trial, three Hazleton residents testified that the ordinance negatively impacted life in the city.

"Everything has totally changed," said local businessman Jose Lechuga, who noted that racism and "hatred" became more prominent after the passing of the ordinance.

...On cross-examination, defense counsel asked Lechuga if the customers of his grocery store were documented and undocumented immigrants.

"I don't think that's my job to find out," Lechuga replied.

Throughout the afternoon, the defense team has attempted to show that the Lechuga's businesses were failing before the ordinance and that documented immigrants had nothing to fear from the new law. The testimony of Dr. Lopez and Mr. Lechuga, along with Rosa Lechuga, Jose's wife, and Pedro Lozano, who also testified this afternoon, made it clear that there was a marked difference in the business climate and the neighborhood environment after the passing of the ordinance last summer.

And, from March 13, 2007, here's Wade Malcolm of the Scranton Star-Tribune:

Jose Lechuga once thought he'd spend the rest of his life in Hazleton, a place he always considered fit for raising his five children.

That dream died recently, he said. And when he was asked on the witness stand why he thought this happened, Mr. Lechuga gave a simple answer.

"La ordenanza," the Mexico native testified Monday about the ordinance, through a court-appointed translator at the William J. Nealon Federal Courthouse.

From the same date here's the AP's Michael Rubinkam buying Lechuga's myth-making instead of trying to verify it (entitled "Grocer: Pa. Town's Laws Scared Customers" by the Guardian):

Jose Lechuga struggled as a grocer, but he said his Hispanic customers became scarce when the city of Hazleton began to crack down on illegal immigrants. "They didn't feel safe and they didn't want to have any problems," he testified through an interpreter as the first federal trial began on a local law meant to curb illegal immigration.

Please put other cites in comments.