Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
ALTOONA, Pennsylvania -- Miguel Padilla, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, visited Altoona one night and murdered three people after being denied admission to a social club.
He had been in the United States for 17 years and had accumulated an arrest record before he shot his victims. Even so, the U.S. government neglected to deport him, a lapse that led hometown Congressman Bill Shuster to question the competence of the federal bureaucracy responsible for policing immigration.
This month, more than a year after the murders, Altoona implemented a law of its own aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of town. The ordinance, which took effect a week ago, would punish businesses that hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them.
Posted by tyne at October 15, 2006