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Before she peeled the white slip of paper from her car's windshield wiper, she recognized what it was: a ticket. But she didn't understand why she received it.

Salustia, a 25-year-old immigrant from Mexico who did not provide her last name for immigration reasons, couldn't decipher the ticket informing her that her car's Pennsylvania plates were violating a town of Elsmere ordinance.

"I have a ticket?" she said. "I wasn't prepared for this. This is very bad. This is discrimination, because how can we have plates if we don't have Social Security numbers?"

Salustia, who has lived in Elsmere for six months, is among a handful of Elsmere residents who received tickets under a recently passed law that allows town police to target vehicles with out-of-state tags, and -- detractors say -- immigrants.

While a state law already requires residents to register their vehicles within 60 days, it typically is enforced only when accompanied by a traffic violation. The Elsmere ordinance allows police to ticket a car parked on a public street. An electronic database tracks which vehicles have been in the town for 60 days or more.

Some decry the law as racial profiling. Others say it is just an effort to enforce the law.

The controversy surrounding Elsmere's law is a microcosm of the immigration debate unfolding nationally.

"This is a national issue with local consequences," said Republican Councilman John Jaremchuk, who proposed the ordinance in June. "If the federal government is not going to enforce the law, then local government must step in."

With the debate over how to stem the tide of illegal immigration stalled in Congress, local governments across the country have passed legislation targeting landlords and employers as a way to get at undocumented immigrants.

In Hazleton, Pa., for example, landlords and employers will be fined if they employ or rent to undocumented immigrants. That law has sparked similar legislation in Valley Park, Mo., and Riverside, N.J., among other places. Some of the laws are being challenged in court.

"It's not about illegal immigration, it's about about hate and racism," said Maria Matos, executive director of the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington. "The same thing happened to the Italians and the Germans. It's history repeating itself. Now everyone's worried about the 'browning' of America."

Enforcement started Thursday

In Elsmere, police began enforcing the law Thursday night. Most of the citations were issued at Fenwick Park Apartments, home of many Latinos.

The law is not racist, Jaremchuk said, but rather is a response to the complaints he receives from residents frustrated with the number of out-of-state plates.

"I think people are upset because they believe everyone should be subject to the laws of this state," Jaremchuk said. "They think, 'Why do I have to abide by the law when others think they're exempt?' "

Cruz Rodriguez, vice president of the Latino organization Voices without Borders, said he believes the law is racially motivated.

"The problem with this is that the city government is trying to have its own immigration laws," he said. "They're targeting Hispanics, turning them into criminals."

Antonio Garduño, a Mexican immigrant and resident of Fenwick Park, said he recognizes that the law is the law.

Still, though, he doesn't like the idea that Hispanics are being tagged as troublemakers.

"On the part of Elsmere, they don't want immigrants," Garduño said in Spanish. "But this is a country of immigrants."

Jaremchuk said he has nothing against hard-working, law-abiding immigrants who followed the lengthy legal process to come to the United States. It's illegal immigration that bothers him.

"Would I like to see [illegal immigrants] out of town? Yes," he said. "Either get them out of town, or bring them into compliance with our state laws."

Information from landlords

The town is relying on a database of tenants' vehicle information to determine whether residents have been in Delaware for more than 60 days. Homeowners are not required to provide such information.

In October, Elsmere approved a law proposed by Councilwoman Joann Personti requiring landlords to provide the city with tenants' vehicle registration information.

She said she proposed the law after a "code and crime" sweep at Fenwick Park revealed 18 vehicles abandoned or with expired tags.

"You never hear of that in areas where there are homeowners," she said.

That law paved the way for enforcement of the new ordinance, which Police Chief Neal Strauss said is important to assist police with investigations.

"If there's a traffic accident or hit and run, and that person lives here but we run their tags and the address goes back to New York or Pennsylvania, we have no way to follow up," he said.

Tickets carry a fine of $50, plus $9 for a victims' compensation fund. Violators have 30 days to pay. If the car is not registered immediately, though, the owner could be ticketed again.

The police department does not have the authority to impound or boot vehicles if the owner does not pay the fine. However, a warrant could be issued to arrest those who don't pay up.

Like Jaremchuk, Strauss says the law is not targeting a certain ethnic population.

"Issues have been brought up that this is profiling," he said. "But from my point of view, it's just a metal plate on a car, and I don't care who you are, you need to get it taken care of."

Margaret Quijano, property manager of Fenwick Park Apartments, said she's worried she will lose 50 percent or more of her tenants now that police have begun enforcing the law.

She estimates 70 percent of complex residents are Latino. And a recent check of the complex's parking lots found more than a dozen cars with Pennsylvania tags.

Fenwick Park tenants said many undocumented immigrants register their vehicles in the name of a friend or family member with a Pennsylvania address. Tenants also claimed it's easier for immigrants without documents to license cars in Pennsylvania, even though the state's laws are similar to Delaware's and require proof of insurance and a valid Pennsylvania ID.

Quijano said she expects many of her tenants cannot provide the documentation required for them to obtain Delaware plates.

"So what's the solution? Are they going to deport everyone from the state of Delaware?"

Jaremchuk said there is no way to quantify how many of Elsmere's 6,000 residents are undocumented immigrants.

At the October town council meeting Jaremchuk plans to propose a resolution requiring vendors providing services to Elsmere to sign an affidavit swearing they do not employ any undocumented workers.

"I don't think we should be paying taxpayer dollars to businesses that are in violation of federal law," Jaremchuk said.

Madeline Welch of the Immigrants Council of Delaware said it is hard to argue with the legality of the town's effort to ticket out-of-state cars.

"Unless it's done with the intent to discriminate against a particular population, it seems the city has the authority to further define state law," she said.

Salustia said she doesn't know what the answer is.

"I would get Delaware plates if I could," she said. "I only want to work."

Contact Summer Harlow at 324-2794 or sharlow@delawareonline.com.