On second thought …

The New York Times today published a story on how towns are re-considering cracking down on illegal immigrants because of the blowback such laws have on things like the local economy.

The Times reports that hundreds if not thousands of recent immigrants fled the township of Riverside, New Jersey after the law went into effect a little more than a year ago. Traffic, noise and other problems dissipated. So did business in hair salons, restaurants and corner shops that catered to immigrants. And while many left, lawsuits – two of them – appeared, bringing legal bills with them.

So last week, the town rescinded the ordinance, joining a small but growing list of municipalities nationwide that have begun rethinking such laws as their legal and economic consequences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

“I don’t think people knew there would be such an economic burden,” said Mayor George Conard, who voted for the original ordinance. “A lot of people did not look three years out.”

In the past two years, more than 30 towns nationwide have enacted laws intended to address problems attributed to illegal immigration, from overcrowded housing and schools to overextended police forces. Most of those laws, like Riverside’s, called for fines and even jail sentences for people who knowingly rented apartments to illegal immigrants or who gave them jobs.

Such laws coincided with the training of local police and sheriff’s departments around the country to detain residents for immigration violations, from Maricopa County, Arizona, to Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. And, of course, there have been the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids around the country, in Iowa, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts and elsewhere.

The United States has some much harder, complicated questions to ask itself on immigration reform, and must prepare itself for complex, nuanced answers. It starts with adjusting individual ways of living, managing expectations at restaurants, grocery stores and schools, and who exactly is entitled to the American Dream.