WASHINGTON -- A city may not punish employers who hire illegal immigrants or landlords who rent to them, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday, insisting that regulation of immigrants is "clearly within the exclusive domain of the federal government."
The decision strikes down an anti-immigrant ordinance adopted four years ago in Hazleton, Pa., that touched off a wave of similar measures in cities and states, including Arizona.
The ruling is the latest to send the message that Washington sets the rules on immigration, not states or localities.
"Deciding which aliens may live in the United States has always been the prerogative of the federal government," said Judge Theodore McKee, of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. "If Hazleton can regulate as it has here, then so could every other state or locality."
But the ruling is not the final word on this issue.
In December, the Supreme Court will hear an Arizona case to decide whether a state may take away the business licenses of companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. This law, passed when Janet Napolitano was governor, was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the grounds that states traditionally controlled the licensing of businesses.
Bu the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration have urged the high court to strike down that licensing law because they say it is, in fact, an immigration law.
Comments