Towns Rethink Laws Against Illegal Immigrants

An anti-immigrant fire has swept the American landscape over the past two years, and immigrants are not the only ones scorched. Laws passed in more than 30 US towns, penalizing anyone who employed or rented to illegal immigrants, sent thousands running and left local businesses empty of customers. The laws, intended in part to eliminate the wage suppression typically associated with large illegal populations, have had an opposite effect on the economy. Lawsuits filed by civil-rights organizations and immigrant-advocacy groups have imposed additional financial strain on the towns. In an effort to recuperate economically, many towns repeal the laws, but it remains unclear whether or not immigrants will return, and if they do, how they will be received by employers and by fellow residents. Tension, emerging from the raging debate over illegal immigration, and uncertainty, with the federal government failing to act, has proved more disruptive than the presence of the immigrants themselves. – YaleGlobal