Lozano, Pedro et al v. Hazleton, Pennsylvania
In 2006, Mayor Lou Barletta and the city council passed Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act. This Act fines landlords who rent to illegal aliens and denies business permits to companies who employ illegal aliens.
The American Civil Liberties Union, et. al., filed legal action to block the law. In September 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law. Hazelton appealed this adverse decision to the Supreme Court of the United States and AULDF filed an Amicus brief urging the Court to hear the appeal.
On June 6, the Supreme Court granted the appeal, vacated the judgment, and remanded the case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration in light of the Court's decision in the Arizona case (Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting). Given the similarity of the laws, the new opinion from the appeals court should follow the Supreme Court's decision and uphold Hazelton's law!
Other state and town legislatures are passing similar laws and the new Supreme Court decision in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting is already being cited to uphold them. On June 14, 2011, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma upheld Oklahoma's law prohibiting employment of illegal aliens and based the decision squarely on the Supreme Court's decision in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting.
There is strong public support for state laws prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens. In large part due to his support for the law, Mayor Barletta was elected to Congress in 2010.