Dear Readers:  

This week a low level federal district court ruling on a set of municipal ordinances in a little Pennsylvania town may have sent shockwaves across America . A few years ago the town of Hazleton , Pennsylvania made headlines when it decided to take on the federal government and implements its own set of laws to fight illegal immigration.  

Hazleton ’s aggressively anti-immigrant mayor pushed through measures to take the business licenses away from companies hiring undocumented immigrants and barring landlords from renting apartments to the undocumented.

Mr. Mayor created a sensation and was interviewed by many reporters (even 60 Minutes!). The Hazleton gambit was repeated by cities and states around the country in response to four years of Congress yelling about immigration, but not actually dealing with the problem.  

And now a district court judge says the party is over. Unfortunately for Hazleton (and Farmer’s Branch, and the States of Arizona, Tennessee , Georgia , and a lot of other places), the Constitution has a concept called "preemption" that forbids states from usurping Congress’ powers. IRCA, the 1986 Immigration Act, prohibits states from enforcing laws against hiring undocumented immigrants. And the undocumented are protected by the Constitution’s due process protections.  

While the Hazleton case will likely be appealed, the odds of the ordinances being reinstated are probably not great. And the message sent by the court in the Hazleton case is certainly going to resonate as these laws are considered (and re-considered). Plaintiffs around the country are no doubt gearing up to challenge them all.  

And the message to Congress should be even clearer. These laws were passed because of the legislature’s nonfeasance. The Congress has a responsibility to create an immigration system that actually functions with a secure border and a workable system to sponsor family members and workers for visas.  

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In firm news, I wrote an opinion piece for USA Today on the subject of physician immigration that ran this past Tuesday at http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/07/us-savior-forei.html?csp=34. I received an unexpected reply letter to the editor than none other than President Jimmy Carter (see his letter at http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/08/global-health-c.html?csp=34). I’ve responded to President Carter’s comments on my ILW.com blog at http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2007/08/president-carte.html.  

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Finally, as always, if you are interested in becoming a Siskind Susser Bland client, please feel welcome to email me at gsiskind@visalaw.com or contact us at 800-748-3819 to arrange for a telephone or in person consultation with one of our lawyers.

Regards,

Greg Siskind