Immigrant Impacts

My husband sent me a link to this NY Times story, about the economic and legal consequences of local ordinances designed to drive out undocumented immigrant populations.

Riverside NJ – A little more than a year ago, the Township Committee in this faded factory town became the first municipality in New Jersey to enact legislation penalizing anyone who employed or rented to an illegal immigrant.

Within months, hundreds, if not thousands, of recent immigrants from Brazil and other Latin American countries had fled. The noise, crowding and traffic that had accompanied their arrival over the past decade abated.

The law had worked. Perhaps, some said, too well.

With the departure of so many people, the local economy suffered. Hair salons, restaurants and corner shops that catered to the immigrants saw business plummet; several closed. Once-boarded-up storefronts downtown were boarded up again.

Meanwhile, the town was hit with two lawsuits challenging the law. Legal bills began to pile up, straining the town’s already tight budget. Suddenly, many people — including some who originally favored the law — started having second thoughts.

So last week, the town rescinded the ordinance, joining a small but growing list of municipalities nationwide that have begun rethinking such laws as their legal and economic consequences have become clearer…

North Plainfield wrestles with these same issues of large immigrant populations and local economic development – raised most prominently in discussions about enforcement of residential overcrowding, “stacked housing,” basement sleeping rooms and rooming houses, and in efforts to expand the types of goods and services available on Somerset Street in the main business district.

As we continue public discussions about these things, it will be very important to make sure that local measures are carried out – and perceived by all residents – to genuinely protect the health and safety of all residents from preventable risks associated with overcrowding, and to really develop the Somerset Street business district to better meet the needs of all residents.