Good sense has prevailed against the city of Hazleton's attempt to set immigration policy.

The blue-collar town near Pennsylvania's eastern border with New York became an unlikely battleground for America's conflict over illegal immigration when Hazleton's mayor, Louis Barletta, decided the burgeoning Latino population of his town was the root of all its troubles.

He tried to slam Hazleton's doors shut, pushing local ordinances that called for the eviction of undocumented immigrants by requiring every tenant to obtain a residency permit at city hall. The rules would have penalized landlords who rented to illegal immigrants and businesses that hired them.

U.S. District Judge James Munley, who conducted a nine-day bench trial, struck the laws down Thursday, saying Hazleton could not take immigration policy into its own hands. There are few issues as clearly within the realm of the federal government as border control.

"Whatever frustrations officials of the city of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the political system in the United States prohibits the city from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme," Judge Munley wrote.

Imagine the ridiculous outcomes if similar efforts to restrict the residency of illegal immigrants were attempted in Allegheny County, the inexplicable home of 120 municipalities. If Pittsburgh and Mt. Lebanon enacted different rules, a family might find it could live at the city end of McNeilly Road but not at the suburban end. Similarly, a couple might be able to live on the Swissvale side of Braddock Avenue but not across the street in Edgewood.

Beyond the jurisdictional argument, Judge Munley's ruling says the illegal immigrants are not without rights in this country, and Hazleton's laws infringed on theirs and the rights of the town's employers and landlords.

Plaintiffs included four illegal immigrants who were afraid of being forced out of their homes because of Hazleton's regulations. Judge Munley said that no U.S. court has ordered the eviction of illegal immigrants, and the Supreme Court has consistently interpreted the 14th Amendment to provide due process rights to individuals "whether they were born here, immigrated here through legal means, or violated federal law to enter the country."

Vic Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and lead counsel in the lawsuit against Hazleton, said he hopes the ruling will discourage other cities from targeting illegal immigrants. About 100 towns already have, but he told Post-Gazette writer Milan Simonich that many held up enforcement of their ordinances while waiting for Judge Munley's decision.

The situation in Hazleton stems from the failure of Congress to enact a policy that secures national borders and normalizes the status of the 12 million illegal immigrants already here. Until that happens, small-minded politicians like Mr. Barletta will keep coming up with their own illegal, ill-advised strategies.