Federal Court Throws Out Hazleton Anti-Immigration Laws
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
In a potentially ground breaking ruling, a Federal Court negated Hazleton, Pennsylvania’s anti-immigration laws. The town made national headlines, in 2006, when it passed a series of laws aimed at discouraging illegal immigrants from finding their way to Hazleton. The Court reviewed the City’s “Tenant Registration Ordinance” and “Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance.”
The ordinances were thrown out primarily on the principle of preemption. The Congress may expressly forbid states and local governments from passing laws. A local law would be implicitly preempted if it interferes with or conflicts with already existing federal laws.
In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, providing for the removal of illegal aliens from the United States. The Act expressly preempted any state and local laws imposing penalties for hiring undocumented workers. The Court, relying on the Act’s preemption clause, threw out Hazleton’s ordinance penalizing employers who hire illegal workers.
Federal law also reserves to the federal government the right to remove a foreign national or to allow him to remain in the country. Hazleton’s laws forbidding renting property to illegal aliens conflict with the federal government’s right to allow an illegal alien to remain in the country. So, the Court ruled against Hazleton’s anti-rental laws.