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Anti-Immigrant Housing Ordinance Restrained

By TChris, Section Court Decisions
Posted on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 06:53:26 PM EST
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Another ordinance designed to drive undocumented aliens out of town has been enjoined.

The [Farmers Branch, TX] ordinance would have required apartment managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with a few exceptions. Landlords would have faced fines of up to $500 for violating the measure with each day considered as a separate violation.
The mean-spirited idea seems to be that undocumented aliens should be forced to join sex offenders who, in the absence of legal housing alternatives, are forced to live under a bridge.

A similar ordinance in Hazleton, PA met a similar fate.

"Around the nation, every judge who has reviewed these local anti-immigrant ordinances has put a stop to them," said Nina Perales, the regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund who argued for the preliminary injunction. "Immigration reform is a federal responsibility and local anti-immigrant ordinances only hurt city economies and community relations."

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay issued a temporary restraining order May 21, blocking the law's enforcement a day before it was to take effect. The judge later extended the restraining order until June 19 to consider the preliminary injunction.
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    Anti-Immigrant Housing Ordinance Restrained | 21 comments (21 topical)

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    Escondido, CA city council passed (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by oculus on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 06:57:22 PM EST
    a similar ordinance but didn't enforce it because the City Attorney told the council it was not constitutional.  Of course, the City Attorney told them the same thing before the council passed the ordinance.  

    Speeding (1.00 / 1) (#2)
    by jarober on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:12:01 PM EST
    Do you also find speeding enforcement to be mean spirited?  How about rent collection?  I find it hard to believe that you can be a member of the bar when you advocate ignoring so much of the law.

    Wouldn't a small govt. loving, (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by kdog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 08:38:08 PM EST
    conservative minded person want to keep the govt. out of the tenant/landlord relationship as much as possible?

    I swear...I'm more conservative than the Republican party these days.

    Parent

    kdog (1.00 / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 08:34:44 AM EST
    If we didn't have 15 million illegals in the country with thousands more coming in, you would have a point.

    This law's is based on a desire to keep the illegal aliens out.

    See how one bad thing leads to another??

    Parent

    Remember who you're talking too.... (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 08:45:44 AM EST
    old buddy.  The immigrants don't bother me, the state does.  I have a hard time tolerating any new intrusions into our lives.

    Parent
    kdog (1.00 / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 11:40:36 AM EST
    How could I forget???

    ;-)

    As I keep telling you, you don't have to trust one an