I’ve written before about the developments in Hazleton, PA, where the local government has been trying to levy penalties on those who would hire or rent to illegal migrants. Although the law grew from a frustration that many of us share, it also had a number of troubling aspects, such as requiring tenants to apply at City Hall for a permit — and pay a fee — before renting property in the city. Last November, a federal judge blocked the law. The court battle over Hazelton’s law is continuing; last month the judge refused to order the ACLU to reveal the names of some of the plaintiffs, who are illegal migrants.
Hazelton has a lot of company. An AP story in Sunday’s Baltimore Sun states:
According to an analysis by the Center for Community Change, an immigrants rights group based in Washington, 35 towns have approved illegal immigrant laws, 35 have defeated them and 35 others have ordinances pending.
Other localities mentioned in that article include Escondido, CA, Valley Park, MO, and Farmers Branch, TX:
After a federal judge blocked Escondido, Calif., from fining landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, the City Council killed the measure and agreed to pay $90,000 to the opposing lawyers.
In the Valley Park case, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Barbara Wallace issued a restraining order and said there were “big holes” in the city’s ordinance, which would target businesses and landlords.
Even though the laws have yet to be enforced in any of the places where they have been challenged, many Hispanics - illegal or otherwise - have left. Hispanic business districts in Hazleton, Farmers Branch and Riverside, N.J., all report steep declines.
Kris W. Kobach, a University of Missouri law professor who is defending the ordinances in Hazleton and Valley Park, maintains that his clients have federal law and Supreme Court precedent on their side.
“Most of these temporary restraining orders don’t represent a judicial consideration of the issues in any significant sense,” said Kobach, an immigration adviser under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. “They are just agreements by the attorneys to preserve the status quo.”
Regarding Farmer’s Branch, Patrick McGee, a staff writer for the Star-Telegram, writes in a wire story last week, In Texas, a city divided over illegal immigration:
“The issue has divided the city. It has put neighbor against neighbor,” said Salvador Parada, a Farmers Branch resident who opposes the City Council’s stance on illegal immigration. “I don’t think we’re going to sit down and agree on things. It’s just going to get worse.”
At issue are three measures the City Council approved by 5-0 votes in November that are meant to curb illegal immigration:
- An ordinance prohibiting landlords from renting apartments to illegal immigrants.
- A resolution making English the city’s official language.
- An order to have a city police officer trained to enforce federal immigration laws.
Opponents responded with lawsuits and a petition that put a referendum on the rental ordinance on the May municipal ballot. They say that immigration is a matter for the federal government and that Farmers Branch’s stance is alienating Hispanics.
Farmers Branch is becoming more diverse. In this middle-class city of 27,500 residents, 37 percent of the population is Hispanic, according to the 2000 Census. A quarter of the residents were born in another country, and of those, 82 percent were born in Latin America.
Rick Johnson, a resident who supports the council’s efforts, says he worries that the schools are being dragged down partly by illegal immigrants and their children, who he says often show a “general lack of respect” and are part of drug and gang problems.
David Landes, professor emeritus of history and economics at Harvard University who studies the role of culture in human affairs, says he believes that most opponents of illegal immigration hide their prejudices behind claims that they just want to see the law enforced.
“I think the Anglos are unfavorable or hostile to the culture of Mexican immigrants or would-be immigrants, and would like to enforce the law as a way of keeping them out,” he said.
But that view is not shared by Lawrence Harrison, a senior research fellow at the Fletcher School, a graduate school of international affairs at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., who focuses on culture.
He says he believes that there are too many Hispanic immigrants for America’s melting pot to smooth out differences - and that citing the law is not wrong. He says deference to the law illustrates a cultural difference between Anglo-Americans and Hispanic immigrants.
“The rule of law is something that is much more well-established in our culture than it is in Latin American cultures, so it is relevant,” he said. “It’s sort of a symbol of the cultural difference.”
But Rose Villazor, an assistant professor at the Southern Methodist University Law School, says Latinos might question bold talk about the rule of law because U.S. law has failed to protect minorities in the past.
“They look at this and say, ‘Is this really about the rule of law … or is it really about trying to drive out a population from a certain place?’” she said.
In an article by Mr. McGee in today’s Star-Telegram, we learn:
Both sides in the illegal-immigration debate are gearing up for aggressive get-out-the-vote campaigns now that the City Council has decided not to enforce a ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants unless voters approve it in May.
The council voted 5-0 Monday night to let voters decide on the ban in the May 12 election.
The council’s vote also changed the wording of the ban, adding a right to a hearing for people denied occupancy and some protections for elderly people and immigrant families with mixed legal status.
The city’s stance against illegal immigration has attracted lawsuits from Farmers Branch business owners, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
One lawsuit led to a temporary restraining order that blocked implementation of the rental ban, which had been scheduled to go into effect Jan. 12.
Councilman Tim O’Hare, who proposed the anti-illegal-immigration measures, said Monday’s move had nothing to do with any alleged violation of open-meetings laws.
One lawsuit contends that the council did too much of the work on the measures behind closed doors in executive session.
Despite these setbacks, more and more communities are considering similar solutions. From Springboro, OH, Lawrence Budd writes in the Middletown Journal, Group urges crackdown on illegal immigrants:
An incident last summer in which a Miami Valley man was allegedly killed by a Mexican man or men without Social Security numbers, American citizenship or any legal basis for U.S. employment is sparking a campaign to change laws that allow illegal immigrants to live and work in America.
Tonight, Citizens for Legal Communities will press Mason City Council to pass local laws fining or criminally charging employers or landlords of illegal immigrants. Next month, the group will bring its campaign to a Springboro City Council meeting.
An another article, Mr. Budd writes, Group’s campaign targets employers, landlords of illegal immigrants:
Citizens for Legal Communities was formed after the stabbing death of Kevin C. Barnhill, a well-known former athlete at Little Miami High School.
Barnhill, 27, of Mason, was last seen alive on Aug. 26, being chased behind the Mason Pub, moments before he was alledgedly stabbed to death.
Police say Barnhill had fought earlier that night with Jose N. Mota, 40, of Mexico, charged in connection with Barnhill’s death, along with his brother, Humberto Mota, 30, and Enrique Torres, 36, also both Mexican citizens.
Neither Torres, still on the loose, or the Motas, who are in custody, have Social Security numbers or any documents allowing them to legally live or work in the U.S., authorities said. However, they all were living in a rental on Tylersville Road in Mason, and Jose Mota was employed by a Fairfield roofing company, court records show.
Some landlords and business owners worry the proposed laws will create problems for them and conflict with federal laws limiting their inquiries of prospective employers and tenants.
They run the risk of violating other federal laws that prohibit discrimination, said Charles Tassell, director of government affairs for the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky & Southern Ohio Apartment Association.
“That’s the kind of place between a rock and a hard place we’re in,” Tassel said.
