A Philadelphia federal appeals court has struck down a law in the Pennsylvania city of Hazleton aimed at barring undocumented immigrants from working or renting homes there. The court said the local laws violated federal prerogatives on immigration issues. Witold Walczak, the legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, praised the ruling.

Witold Walczak: “Four years ago, Hazleton passed the first law in the country attempting to drive out unlawful immigrants, and this sparked a wave of copycat laws across the country that tore communities apart along ethnic lines. And today’s decision is a pointed repudiation of such local anti-immigration laws and a warning, should serve as a warning to other communities.”