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July 21, 2006

Black-listing illegals

Towns blight themselves by legalizing discrimination


It's a distasteful trend. States and towns across the country are manipulating the law to go after illegal immigrants. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 57 pieces of legislation have passed in more than two dozen states (out of 500 introduced) to restrict or cut off employment, health, housing and other benefits to illegal immigrants. Towns are rewriting trespassing, rental, code enforcement and permitting ordinances to literally exclude illegal immigrants from town and declare themselves -- as one small Cape Cod, Mass., town did -- "not a sanctuary for illegal aliens."

Next Monday, the City Council in Avon Park, a town half-way between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee, is scheduled to vote on just such a far-reaching ordinance, the culmination of a debate that has triggered national publicity and ugly reactions, none of those flattering to the American ideals of inclusion and fairness. Antagonism against illegal immigrants shrouds itself in righteous language: "They" should play by the rules, "they" are destroying the fabric of American life, "they" are taking jobs away from Americans. But it's racial and ethnic prejudice, an attempt to use legalese to discriminate against the country's growing Latino population, and to use illegal immigrants as the emotional wedge.

Many Americans think to be an illegal immigrant is a crime. It isn't, although if the House of Representatives has its way, it will be. For the moment, being an illegal immigrant in this country is only a civil offense, punishable only by federal rules that apply in limited circumstances. A Border Patrol agent may arrest an illegal immigrant. A police officer pulling over a car of illegal immigrants may detain them until federal agents take over, should they choose to do so. The police officer may not jail them on illegal immigration charges. That's how it's been and how it should be: States and local authorities shouldn't deputize themselves the right to play federal cop. Yet they are doing that and worse.

Last week in Avon Park, Mike Disler, the city attorney, warned that if passed, the town's so-called "Illegal Immigration Relief Act" could cost Avon Park a Wal-Mart Supercenter because its wording is "poorly drafted" and "not constitutional," as he told The Ledger, an area newspaper. Disler played no role in drafting the ordinance. It's the work of Avon Park Mayor Tom Macklin, who was inspired by a similar ordinance from Hazelton, Pa. The ordinance states in part that "any for-profit entity, including acts permitted by its parent company or subsidiaries, that aids and abets illegal aliens or illegal immigration shall be denied approval of a business permit . . . for a period no less than five years from its last offense." That goes for any company meeting that description anywhere in the country. Wal-Mart agreed in March 2005 to pay $11 million in fines in a settlement with the federal government over hiring illegal immigrants.

Disler informed his commission about the ordinance's problematic language. The city and the company were quick to say that the ordinance wouldn't affect building plans, thus raising questions of obvious double standards. Disler was fired days after making his objections known.

The overreaction should not be a surprise: It's of one piece with the disproportionate aim of the ordinance in general, which would also eliminate Spanish from all city documents and phone messages, make English the town's official language and punish those who rent to illegal immigrants.

Avon Park officials speak without shame in the language of the ordinance, which says that allowing illegal immigrants to live and work in town "destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our overall quality of life." But the shame is on Avon Park. An expected civil rights lawsuit against the city can't come too soon, should the ordinance pass on Monday. Bigoted towns like Avon Park need to hear the message loud and clear: Not in America.