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The editorial page of the Los Angeles Times today addressed Escondido’s efforts to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. The editorial comes in the wake of a judge’s decision that casts doubt on the legality of a similar ordinance in Pennsylvania.
The editorial calls Escondido’s efforts as “the latest in a series of ill-advised attempts nationwide to turn federal immigration law into a municipal law-enforcement issue.”
It begins:
ARE YOU paying attention, Escondido? As Hazleton, Pa., is hopefully finding out, making criminals of landlords who rent to illegal immigrants is not only counterproductive as a practical matter, it’s probably illegal too.
It ends:
Supporters of such measures say they’re necessary because federal officials have failed to act. On this they have an excellent point. However, the whole country – not just a city here and a county there – needs the federal government to enact reforms that will bring out of the shadows the workers and neighbors on whom the economy relies.