ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal judge has sided with a suburban St. Louis town in a drawn-out legal battle over an ordinance penalizing businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

In a ruling handed down late Thursday, U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber upheld the city of Valley Park, Mo.’s right to deny business licenses to those who employ illegal immigrants. An attorney for the city said the decision will have implications for other cities and towns around the nation faced with the same issue.

“It gives a green light to other communities,” Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who handled the case for Valley Park, said Friday. “It tells them they’re on solid legal footing.”

City officials in Valley Park have been embroiled in court battles since passing the town’s first immigration law in 2006. That original law, since rescinded, fined landlords if they were found to rent to illegal aliens. Valley Park subsequently passed a new law going after businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged both laws, and a St. Louis County judge agreed that both violated state law. Webber, in his 57-page ruling, disagreed.

“The Ordinance at issue is not preempted by federal law, to the contrary, federal law specifically permits such licensing laws as the one at issue,” Webber wrote in the ruling, which is seemingly at odds with a ruling issued in July by a federal judge in Pennsylvania.

In that case, U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down Hazleton, Pa.’s anti-illegal immigration law as unconstitutional.

The city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. Another measure would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.

Munley ruled that the act was pre-empted by federal law and would violate due process rights.

In a statement, the ACLU said the Valley Park law was aimed at driving immigrants out of the small working class St. Louis County town.

“If every city and town across the country were allowed to enact its own immigration laws, we would end up with chaos and confusion causing discrimination and profiling against individuals based on their appearance, accent and ethnicity,” said Lucas Guttentag, the ACLU’s immigrants rights project director.

Calls to the ACLU office in St. Louis were not returned, and it wasn’t clear if an appeal was planned.

Valley Park’s 6,500 residents have been split on the issue. Some have been so supportive they’ve given the city money to aid in the legal fight. Others said they were worried not only about the legal cost but about the possibility of racial profiling and whether the law was harming the town’s reputation.

Kobach said Valley Park has no intention of running out legal immigrants, and the ruling confirmed that.

“It’s vindication for this small city,” Kobach said. “The city stood firm and didn’t back down.”

You must be logged in to leave comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
	Forgot Your Password?

Not a member? Register now.

E-mail updates

Get news update delivered to your inbox

E-Mail:
First:
Last:
Zip:

Archives Web Site Marketplace Obits Babies Jobs