Thread: Professor examines 'illegal immigration' ordinance debate

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Local News
Professor examines 'illegal immigration' ordinance debate

By Dennis Hines

Several municipalities throughout the country have enacted laws to discourage illegal immigration.




Some laws fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants or landlords who rent housing units to undocumented residents. Guadalupe Luna, Northern Illinois University law professor, said there are several problems with such ordinances. Luna discussed the issue during a recent NIU brown bag luncheon program.

Luna said such ordinances have been challenged in court. She said a community in California is currently paying $90,000 in legal fees to defend its ordinance.

Luna said some of the ordinances include language that is vague and difficult to define. She said, because of the vague language, some of the ordinances could affect residents who are legal citizens of the United States.

According to Luna, some ordinances require residents to provide their original birth certificate or identification when applying for a job or renting an apartment.

“Some of us lack the primary documents, and some of us don't have the original birth certificates that we had when we were born,” Luna said. “In fact, in New York, there's a cluster of Medicate citizens who are losing out, because they don't have their original documents proving that they were born in the United States.”

Luna said other ordinances do not recognize certain forms of federal identification.

“There's different forms of federal IDs out there for identification cards, but the ordinances do not speak to that,” Luna said. “It's just very broad, saying we want proof.”




According to Luna, several of the ordinances also could be subjected to federal law. She said there are certain clauses in the U.S. constitution, which do not allow municipalities to regulate immigration.

“Federal law is in charge of immigration, and that's because we're looking for uniformity, certainty of law and reliability,” Luna said. “We don't want different clusters of immigration laws, restrictions and requirements all over the country.”

Luna said the country also has civil rights laws which pertain to undocumented residents.

“This nation promotes stability in law, does not favor self help, and we're trying to diminish the realm of violence that we had prior to these laws back in the 1800s,” Luna said. “We're trying to disallow that and diminish that, so we do have civil rights laws that do protect undocumented citizens.”

Luna said several of the ordinances also violate state mandates.

“The state constitution in Illinois tells us that we do not distinguish between citizens and non citizens,” Luna said. “The state constitution in Illinois tells us that all persons have a right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color or ancestry.”

Several immigration laws have been enacted during the past several years including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); however, Luna said NAFTA mostly pertains to businesses and products that are coming into the country.

“The only people who were committed under NAFTA were the people who could say that they were going to invest in a business of at least $1 million a year,” Luna said. “We're seeing an influx of businesses, and I attribute a lot of that to the globalization of the market place. The United States has done very well under NAFTA, but other countries not so much.”

Luna said the United States, generally, has been welcoming to immigrants who are entertainers, athletes, artists and business owners.

“Our country is very generous that way. We have one of the most generous immigration frameworks in the world,” Luna said. “You can get into the country primarily through family, work or to open a temporary business.”

Luna said government officials also have been welcoming to immigrants who purchase items in the country.

“I remember being in San Antonio, and they would allow buses from Mexico to come in and shop at very high-end stores. They would allow them to come in and spend their money,” Luna said.

can you say biased? i think you can.