Thursday, July 26, 2007

A judge screws over law abiding citizens, sides with law breakers

Illegal immigration is not being dealt with sufficiently (or at all) by the federal government. The feds are supposed to deal with immigration. They abrogate that responsibility and local governments pay the price as a result.

Hazleton, Pennsylvania is one town that tried to deal with the effects of this immigration. The town passed an ordinance making it illegal to rent property to those who are illegally in this country. This is NOT regulating immigration. This is regulating to whom you can rent property. There is a huge difference. The federal government has claimed that the states and local governments have no business regulating such activities and claim that it is their jurisdiction sola and therefore must nullify any local laws.

If this was the case, then why the double standard? Why is it that the feds can say that they have exclusive constitutional authority on regulating immigration yet at the same time do not take the position that states and local governments likewise can not regulate gun sales, possession, trade, transportation, and ownership? Control.

The way I see it, and I am sure that there are those with greater legal minds than mine, since I am not a lawyer (but do tend to practice a degree of common sense, unlike this judge), I am sure that the jurisdiction of the court may be challenged, as well as the jurisdiction of a municipality to regulate how people handle real estate transactions as well as labor.

Here is a link to the entire article. Here is an excerpt:
A U.S. judge on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a local law designed to crack down on illegal immigration, dealing a blow to similar laws passed by dozens of towns and cities across the country.

U.S. District Judge James Munley said the city of Hazleton, 100 miles north of Philadelphia, was not allowed to implement a law that would fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants and penalize landlords who rent rooms to them.

"Federal law prohibits Hazleton from enforcing any of the provisions of its ordinances," Munley wrote in a 206-page opinion following a federal trial in which Hazleton's law was challenged by civil rights groups.


As it turns out, the judge is a liberal Clinton appointee. That speaks volumes. Here are other links with the news story.
ONE
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