Migrant law of Hazleton, Pa. ruled invalid
PHOENIX - A federal appeals court struck down a local ordinance in Pennsylvania aimed at illegal immigrants, potentially offering a positive signal to civil-rights and business groups trying to kill Arizona’s employer-sanctions and immigration-enforcement laws.
In a unanimous decision, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that it is illegal for city officials in Hazleton to forbid companies to hire illegal immigrants. The judges said such action is pre-empted by federal law.
The judges acknowledged that the Hazleton ordinance was built on an exemption in federal law that allows state and local governments to punish companies by taking away their business licenses. That is the same exemption cited by Arizona lawmakers in enacting the state’s 2007 employer-sanctions law.
But Judge Theodore McKee said that does not mean state and local governments can set up their own systems to determine whether companies are hiring illegal immigrants.
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