President Donald Trump's plans to enact a sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration policy could run into the same problems that half a dozen towns did years ago, The Washington Post reports.
The towns of Hazleton, Pa., and Farmers Branch, Texas, both tried to pass laws that would limit or end undocumented immigration, but both wound up losing legal challenges.
"It wound up costing our city $9 million in attorney's fees," said Farmers Branch mayor Bob Phelps. "And we accomplished zero."
Former Hazleton mayor Lou Barletta, now a U.S. congressman who worked on Trump's transition team, said then that it was time for a "war on the illegals" to restore "law and order," according to the Post.
Valley Park, Mo.; Escondido, Calif.; Fremont, Neb.; and Riverside, N.J. all tried to take legal action to prevent illegal immigrants from settling in their towns. All were provided legal counsel by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who also serves as an advisor to Trump.
All those towns either abandoned or had their laws overruled. Federal judges found the laws in Hazleton and Farmers Branch unconstitutional and discriminatory. Valley Park's mayor declined to enforce the law passed by his predecessor. Escondido abandoned their pursuit after the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, and Riverside rescinded the ordinance after costly legal battles and worries of damage to local businesses.
Fremont successfully banned undocumented immigrants from renting housing, but found that the town's rental applications did not require any information, such as a Social Security number, that would determine an applicant's legal status.
"The makeup of our town has really changed, and again with this chicken plant, there's going to be a majority of low-income jobs that will not bring us taxpayers and homeowners," Dawn Wiegert, a 55-year-old Fremont resident who's lived there 25 years, told the Post. "People that will be a burden on all of our other resources — I don't know how else to say it without sounding racist."
A study from the University of Washington and Dartmouth University found that Latinos are less likely to migrate to states that pass anti-immigration laws, including American-born Hispanics and naturalized citizens, according to NBC News.
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