Land use concerns as a focus of the immigration debate …

  The issue of immigration, both legal and illegal, may soon become the dominant topic of the domestic political debate.  While the national government has failed to take a new course, many local governments are trying to impose new restrictions -- or harassments, if you prefer -- on immigrants.  What is most interesting to me is that many advocates of tougher local laws point to the impetus of -- no, not of crime, the figures for which don't necessarily point to immigrants in many places -- but, rather, land use problems.  The "overcrowding" of houses and driveways and the putatively uncouth home-life habits of uneducated young men living together are spurring the new crackdowns, supporters say.  Here and here are some examples.