The 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals just struck down the city of Hazleton's ordinance to crackdown on landlords and employers who'd rent or hire an illegal immigrant. "It is ... not our job to sit in judgment of whether state and local frustration about federal immigration policy is warranted. We are, however, required to intervene when states and localities directly undermine the federal objectives embodied in statutes enacted by Congress," wrote Chief Judge Theodore McKee.
The unanimous decision has been widely awaited since oral arguments concluded in October 2008 in Philadelphia. The Hazleton battle is viewed by many as a crucial test of whether such ordinances can pass judicial review on the issue of constitutionality.
But ordinances and state laws have been crafted with a variety of different enforcement methods from rental licenses to business licenses, harboring laws to local law enforcement checks of immigration status, and mandatory use of the federal program called E-Verify that checks Social Security numbers.
Hazleton's ordinance, adopted in August 2006, was similar but not identical to the Farmers Branch ordinance now stymied by a federal court judge in Dallas.
Most notably, the U.S. Supreme Court said earlier this year that it will review a 2007 law in Arizona focused only on employers and calling for business licenses to be suspended or yanked if an employer knowingly hires an illegal immigrant. We reported more on that in past posts with links to the briefs here and here. The Arizona law of 2010, known as SB 1070, contains multiple facets. The most controversial feature authorizes local law enforcement to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws. A judge has blocked the law's most controversial provisions.
The Farmers Branch City Council is moved ahead with an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.The city of Farmers Branch has spent $3.53 million defending its ordinance, through August. It was sued again in July in an attempt to end at-large voting and establish single-member districts.
