Four children including two brothers were killed, and 12 others were hospitalized with injuries, in Minnesota last week when a van reportedly ignored a stop sign and barreled into a school bus. The driver of the van, who did not speak English or have a valid drivers license, was charged with homicide.

Authorities described the driver as an illegal immigrant using a phony name. She had pled guilty in 2006 for driving without a license.

For years, courts and lawyers have intimidated towns from protecting themselves against the invasion of illegal immigrants. In 2006, Escondido, Calif., backed away from its housing ordinance to curtail leases to illegal immigrants and even agreed to pay $90,000 in legal fees to plaintiffs challenging the law.

Last summer, a federal court slapped down an attempt by Hazleton, Pa., to penalize employers and landlords who hire and lease to illegal immigrants. Hazleton had been hit by an influx of illegal immigrants and victimized by some of their shocking crimes.

But in August, Newark, N.J., no stranger to violence, was shaken by the brutal murder of several college-bound teenagers who were harmlessly enjoying music at a playground. The victims were black, and the perpetrator was an illegal immigrant from Peru who had been previously charged with raping a 5-year-old girl but had been released despite his obvious illegal presence in this country.

Another imported crime is driving the wrong way on highways, with headlights turned off, in order to escape detection while smuggling drugs or people. Several deadly crashes resulting from this practice have been reported.

The American people's outrage at violations of the law by illegal immigrants was heard loud and clear by the U.S. Senate when it defeated the amnesty bill last year. Now, even judges may be getting the message.

In December, a federal judge in Oklahoma upheld an Oklahoma law requiring state contractors to determine and verify the immigration status of new hires. U.S. District Judge James H. Payne threw out a legal challenge to the law.

In January, U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber emphatically ruled against illegal immigrants who had sued to overturn a similar ordinance enacted by Valley Park, Mo., a town near St. Louis. The court upheld the ordinance, which was directed at employers who were hiring illegal immigrants.

The third strike against illegal immigrants came in February when U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake rejected each and every argument challenging a new Arizona law that imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. He dismissed the claim that federal law somehow ties the hands of state and local governments seeking to protect their own citizens. Continued...