Since July, when the Pennsylvania city of Hazleton passed an ordinance aimed at making it "one of the most difficult places in America for illegal immigrants," dozens of other communities have picked up on the idea, saying local governments must find ways to expel illegal immigrants.
Already, laws have passed in a handful of places: In Valley Park, Mo., population 6,518, landlords over the weekend began evicting tenants who were not legal residents. In Riverside, N.J., families departed so quickly that they left piles of mattresses behind.
On Tuesday, in hopes of stopping the spread of the ordinances, opponents filed federal lawsuits against Hazleton and Riverside, arguing principally that the local governments were violating the supremacy clause of the Constitution by attempting to regulate immigration, which is a federal matter.
Cesar A. Perales, president and chief executive of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is suing Hazleton, called his case against the ordinance "a slam-dunk." But a victory in court, he said, will not address the anger that is growing in small-town America, where many blame illegal immigrants for a range of social ills.
"There is now this crazy climate of 'get these people out of town,' " Perales said. "The laws are a reaction and a response to this sentiment. But it is also feeding it, and saying to people in these small towns that these [immigrants] are bad and they shouldn't be here with us."
A second lawsuit was filed against Riverside Township by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, making similar arguments: that the ordinance governs conduct that falls under federal law; that it violates federal housing regulations and the Civil Rights Act; and that its terminology is "vague and ambiguous."
Hazleton Mayor Louis J. Barletta this summer attracted national attention to his former coal-mining town northwest of Philadelphia that has seen an influx of between 7,000 and 11,000 Latino immigrants. Disturbed by a May slaying that was allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, Barletta declared that "illegal immigrants are destroying the city," and "I don't want them here, period."
