The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

FIRST came the anti-loitering decrees, then legislation to punish employers and landlords who hire or house immigrants. Now, this Nassau County town of 300,000 people has passed perhaps the most stringent of ordinances attempting to control immigrant day laborers: a law that makes even waving one’s hand punishable by a $250 fine. “The term ‘solicitation of employment’ includes, but is not limited to, shouting at cars, waving arms or signs, making hand signals, approaching motor vehicles or standing in public roads facing in the direction of oncoming traffic,” reads Ordinance 205-32, which the Town Board passed unanimously Sept. 29.

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