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Anti-immigrant Laws Spread in US
WASHINGTON — Fed up with government inaction on the hot-button issue of illegal immigration, a growing number of American towns are taking matters into their own hands adopting controversial and, some say, illegal and racist legislation.
From making English the official language of local government to banning foreign flags, more than 30 cities or municipalities across the country in recent months have adopted anti-immigrant measures, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Saturday, December9 .
Many have also passed laws banning landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants and penalizing local businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
"In most cases, these local changes to the law or ordinances that are trying to be passed represent communities first of all dealing with an influx of immigration," said Audrey Singer, an expert on immigration trends with the Brookings Institution, an independent Washington think tank.
"Secondly the leadership in those places are frustrated by the federal government and so they are taking immigration law in their own hands."
Singer noted that whereas 10 years ago the issue of illegal immigration involved only a few states, it has now become a nationwide concern as immigrants, mostly Hispanics, have spread across the country.
"The newness of the phenomenon and, in some cases, the growth, has been very fast," Singer told AFP.
In Pahrump, a desert outpost in the Western state of Nevada with a growing immigrant population, the local council in November voted an English-only ordinance along with a measure barring residents from flying a foreign flag unless it is placed below an American flag. Violators face a50 -dollar fine and 30 hours of community service.
In Hazleton, an industrial city in the Northeast state of Pennsylvania, local authorities justified the adoption of a tough anti-immigrant ordinance by arguing that illegals contribute to an increase in crime, failing schools and are a burden to the city's resources.
Demonstrating their economic and political power, thousands of undocumented immigrants in the United States staged a nationwide stop-work protest in May in an effort to push through immigration reform to legalize the presence of an estimated 12 million of immigrant workers in the country.
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http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1165506763329&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
Many have also passed laws banning landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants and penalizing local businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
"In most cases, these local changes to the law or ordinances that are trying to be passed represent communities first of all dealing with an influx of immigration," said Audrey Singer, an expert on immigration trends with the Brookings Institution, an independent Washington think tank.
"Secondly the leadership in those places are frustrated by the federal government and so they are taking immigration law in their own hands."
Singer noted that whereas 10 years ago the issue of illegal immigration involved only a few states, it has now become a nationwide concern as immigrants, mostly Hispanics, have spread across the country.
"The newness of the phenomenon and, in some cases, the growth, has been very fast," Singer told AFP.
In Pahrump, a desert outpost in the Western state of Nevada with a growing immigrant population, the local council in November voted an English-only ordinance along with a measure barring residents from flying a foreign flag unless it is placed below an American flag. Violators face a50 -dollar fine and 30 hours of community service.
In Hazleton, an industrial city in the Northeast state of Pennsylvania, local authorities justified the adoption of a tough anti-immigrant ordinance by arguing that illegals contribute to an increase in crime, failing schools and are a burden to the city's resources.
Demonstrating their economic and political power, thousands of undocumented immigrants in the United States staged a nationwide stop-work protest in May in an effort to push through immigration reform to legalize the presence of an estimated 12 million of immigrant workers in the country.
More
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1165506763329&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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