Yesterday afternoon, Kellie and I were stuck in some unusually tight traffic near the McCoart Building. Traffic like that is unusual for any time of day in that particular area, even when there’s a game at the stadium. As it turns out, a Hispanic group was holding a rally against the recently passed Prince William immigration ordinance:
About 500 people rallied yesterday against recently passed anti-illegal immigrant measures in Prince William County, and Latino religious leaders threatened a federal lawsuit and local boycott if the county does not rescind or alter its resolution cracking down on undocumented residents.
Leaders of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which organized the event, said they hope to meet with county officials in the next two weeks to alter the resolution. But barring significant changes to the measure, which was passed unanimously last month by Prince William supervisors, they said they will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
The suit would join others filed across the country against similar measures, which have proliferated in response to Congress’s failure to pass an immigration reform bill. In Maryland, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold (R) signed an executive order last week requiring contractors doing business with the county to sign an affidavit swearing that they do not employ illegal immigrants.
In a courtyard outside Prince William’s government center yesterday, people knelt, gripped Bibles and shut their eyes tightly as preachers took turns leading prayers and songs, denouncing the measures and asking that they be repealed.
“We are people of faith, hard-working people. We pay our taxes, we support this country and we are going nowhere!” said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the coalition.
And it appears that the Prince William ordinance will be challenged on precisely the same grounds as the Hazelton, Pennsylvania law that was recently declared unconstitutional by a Federal Judge:
The coalition plans to challenge the measure based on a point in the Constitution, said the group’s lead attorney, William Sanchez.
“It’s clear in the Constitution that the preemption doctrine keeps localities and states from entering into an area in which the federal government already has primary authority, because then there’s going to be a conflict, and these conflicts then cause confusion,” Sanchez said.
The coalition also has a lawsuit pending against the township of Riverside, N.J., which passed a measure last year that aims to put pressure on landlords and employers who cater to illegal immigrants. A similar ordinance was struck down last month by a federal judge in Hazelton, Pa., and Sanchez said his group is also considering suing Oklahoma over sweeping anti-illegal immigrant legislation signed into law there in the spring.
The decision in the Hazleton case is in the process of being appealed, but it’s unlikely that any further rulings on that case would come out before a Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia will be asked to rule on the validity of the Prince William County ordinance. And while there are significant differences between the Hazleton law and the Prince William ordinance, the pre-emption argument is, as I pointed out last month, a strong one.
How it will fare in the Eastern District and, ultimately, the Fourth Circuit is an open question at this point.
