SPLCenter.org: Policing the Undocumented

SPLCenter.org: Policing the Undocumented: "In recent months, a number of localities -- including Avon Park, Fla., and Hazleton, Pa. -- have proposed ordinances to regulate immigration by punishing those who aid and abet 'illegal aliens.' While this might sound like a reasonable idea -- who, after all, wants to support illegal behavior? -- the ordinances are deeply flawed, unconstitutional, and will lead to discrimination against all immigrants and many minorities. A 'model' ordinance has been making the rounds of various cities around the country. What it proposes to do is to punish people who hire, rent to, or sell to so-called 'illegal aliens.' But what the law does not do is tell local employers, landlords and businesspeople how to do that without running afoul of other laws -- like the Fair Housing Act and civil rights laws that prohibit racial and ethnic profiling. It does not tell a landlord how to identify an illegal alien; in many cases, it does not even tell a landlord who would qualify as an illegal alien."