Pa. decision could embolden local opposition
William C. Flook, The Examiner
2007-07-27 07:00:00.0
Current rank: # 261 of 5,383

Richmond -
A federal district judge on Thursday struck down a small Pennsylvania town’s law punishing those who employ or house illegal aliens, a ruling that could embolden opponents of Northern Virginia’s tough new measures on illegal immigration.

Pro-immigrant groups instantly heralded the decision. Under the ordinance, landlords would have incurred fines for renting to illegals, and employers could have lost their business licenses for offering them jobs.

The ruling comes during a broad push for a crackdown in Northern Virginia’s two outlying counties — Loudoun and Prince William — both of which have resolved to study how to deny government services to illegal immigrants. Proponents of the resolutions in both counties don’t expect the ruling to affect them.

“What we did in Prince William is completely different from what they did in Hazelton,â€