Judge declares immigration bans void
CHERYL WITTENAUER
www.belleville.com
Mar 15, 2007
ST. LOUIS - A state judge ruled Monday that two ordinances aimed at keeping illegal immigrants out of the St. Louis suburb Valley Park violate Missouri law.
Circuit Judge Barbara Wallace's ruling is the first in the country that permanently blocks ordinances dealing with illegal immigration, said John Ammann, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
A similar fight is being waged this week in a Pennsylvania court over the ability of local governments to act on their own to curb illegal immigration.
The Valley Park ordinances, which would have punished businesses and landlords who hired or rented to illegal immigrants, were taken almost verbatim from those of the city of Hazleton, Penn., Ammann said.
Leaders of Hazleton who cracked down on illegal immigrants last year went to court Monday to defend their practices.
"They are misguided and ill-conceived ordinances wherever they're passed," said Ammann, director of the Saint Louis University Law Clinic.
Phone messages left at Valley Park City Hall and at Mayor Jeffery Whitteaker's home late Monday seeking comment on Wallace's ruling were not immediately returned.
In July, Valley Park aldermen adopted an ordinance that penalized any business for "aiding and abetting" illegal immigrants or renting them property. The penalties included lost business permits and fines.
On Sept. 26, Wallace issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Valley Park from enforcing the law. Later that day, the aldermen passed another ordinance making it illegal to hire, employ or rent to illegal immigrants. The next day, Wallace issued an order temporarily stopping enforcement of that ordinance, too, and the city later repealed it.
