Recent rulings uphold local immigration ordinances

To crack down on illegal immigration, several states and cities have passed their own enforcement laws recently. Challengers of those laws won several times in court last year, but more recently, judges in Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma have upheld such laws, reports Julia Allison of The New York Times.

"The recent federal decisions will probably give new encouragement to states and towns seeking to drive out illegal immigrants by making it difficult for them to find jobs or places to live," Allison writes. The decisions run counter to a Pennsylvania judge's ruling in July that "struck down ordinances adopted by the City of Hazleton barring local employers from hiring illegal immigrants and local landlords from renting to them," Allison writes. Hazelton was one of the first to pass such legislation, which its mayor, Louis J. Barletta, had hoped would make the city “one of the toughest places in the United States” for illegal immigrants. (Read more)