Immigrant Laws Tread Uncharted Legal Path

"It's crazy. It's just a nuance of a difference," Albo said later. "We wouldn't have to have these stupid meetings if the federal government had enforced its own laws."

To some, the confusion means local officials should butt out.

"If local officials are asking what they can do, I'd say, "Call your congressman,' " said John Ammann, a St. Louis University law professor who is part of a legal team challenging a Valley Park, Mo., ordinance identical to Hazleton's.

But lawmakers say explanations of federal preemption hold little sway with fed-up constituents.

"They're not interested in going to law school," said Del. John S. "Jack" Reid (R-Henrico), a task force member. "I tried to explain it at a civic club meeting one day, and they were all, 'Look, what are you going to do?' And I was all, 'Well, I'm going to stop explaining this!' "

Reid said he thinks it is "silly" for states and counties to have different immigrant-related laws. But, he said, "I just don't think you can turn your back on such a wholesale breach of the law and still have any credibility."

And so local laws will keep coming, he predicted. So will lawsuits, experts say.

"Can they do what they're doing? We'll find out as these things pop up across the country and as there are challenges," said David Wolfe Leopold, a Cleveland lawyer and adjunct law professor at Case Western Reserve University. "But what's best for the country is if Congress does its job and fixes the broken system that we have."