While Congress continues to turn its back on immigration control and reform, local governments are taking matters into their own hands. In North Carolina, some actions are not much more than an assertion of American pride. Take the Rowan County community of Landis. It's an official English-only town.

Some communities have gone further; they want illegals out of town. Gaston County commissioners have directed the development of procedures to stop illegal immigrants from receiving public services. Next week, Charlotte will consider rules that will limit to seven the number of people who can live in a 1,000-square foot house. This action is clearly aimed at illegals, many of whom live together in large numbers. Saving on housing means more money can be sent back to families in their home countries.

Mecklenburg County is home to the most effective anti-illegal immigration program in the state. In April, Sheriff James Pendergraph, with help from U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, began a federal 287(g) Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, which allows local law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement duties. The result: nearly 1,000 illegals have been detained and are in the process of being deported. More than 125 have already been sent home.

While local governments have acted, the General Assembly has cooled its heels. It's still reeling from the 2005 scorched-earth battle over granting in-state college tuition to certain students who are undocumented immigrants. That fight unleashed the state's first significant anti-illegal immigrant backlash.

But our inactivity was the exception. Last year, 78 immigration laws were enacted by 33 states. Most were copycat laws that dealt with employer sanctions, denial of public benefits and stopping landlords from renting to illegals.

However, one Arizona law bears watching by North Carolinians, since many anti-illegal immigrant ordinances and resolutions making the rounds here were first passed in my home state.

Last year the Arizona legislature nobly passed a law that makes it a felony for anyone to transport illegals into the United States for a profit or commercial purpose. The law is clearly and directly aimed at "coyotes," the scum whose human rights violations while directing and transporting illegal aliens continue to add horrific chapters. There was little opposition to the law's passage.

But Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio saw the law as a golden opportunity to take local enforcement to a new level. They used the law to cook up the Maricopa Migrant Conspiracy Policy.

This is a gem. Under this policy, any illegal immigrant picked up by Sheriff Arpaio's deputies who is suspected of paying a coyote will be charged with conspiracy to commit human smuggling. This novel interpretation blindsided the law's sponsors, whose intent was to go after coyotes, not individual immigrants.

Too bad, Thomas contends. Nothing in the law restricts him to prosecuting professional smugglers exclusively. He maintains that his interpretation is protecting the residents of Maricopa, home to Phoenix.

Thomas has gotten more than 160 illegal immigrants to plead guilty under the new law, including 20 who have gone back to their home countries in return for being convicted of lesser charges. He maintains that if legislators don't like his approach they can change the law. Several have made it clear they'll try to do just that.

In the meantime, a coalition of immigrant advocates, law professors and Arizona legislators has gone to federal court, challenging the legality of the county's conspiracy policy. Legal arguments on both sides are compelling. Only a sucker would bet on the outcome.

In June, the policy was upheld in Superior Court.

In October, a Maricopa jury convicted Adolfo Guzman-Garcia of conspiracy to commit human smuggling, even though he was the one being smuggled.

But at Guzman-Garcia's sentencing last week, the judge overturned the conviction. Here's the kicker. The judge who negated the jury verdict, Thomas O'Toole, is a respected jurist with more than 20 years on the bench. He's also the same judge who upheld the policy that led to the conviction a few months earlier.

This state of utter confusion is just one more reason why Congress needs to get off its collective duff and enact comprehensive immigration reform. The county-by county approach just isn't working out.

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