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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Voters overwhelmingly approve ordinance that bans renting to illegal immigrants Voters in this Dallas suburb became the first in the nation Saturday to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. The ban was approved by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent, with two-thirds of precincts reporting. The first such anti-illegal immigrant ordinance requires apartment managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them. Minors and people 62 and over are exempt from having to prove their immigration status or citizenship. Families that include citizens and illegal-immigrant members could lease if they meet three conditions: they're already tenants, heads of households or spouses are legally in the U.S., and the family includes only a spouse, their minor children or parents. Opponents plan to seek a restraining order to stop the city from enforcing it and try to get the case to trial. Council members first approved the ban in November without discussion, taking comment from the public only after their vote, saying the federal government has failed to address illegal immigration. Councilman Tim O'Hare, the ordinance's lead proponent, contends the city's economy and quality of life will improve if illegal immigrants are kept out. Since then, Farmers Branch has become the site of protests and angry confrontations. "The thing that strikes me most about it, is just the level of emotion, the level of frustration regarding the whole immigration issue," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. The City Council revised the ordinance in January to include the exemptions for minors, seniors and some mixed-status families. By then, the city was facing four lawsuits brought by civil rights groups, residents, property owners and businesses. They contend the ordinance places landlords in the precarious position of acting as federal immigration officers and discriminates. Their attorneys say the ordinance attempts to regulate immigration, a duty that is exclusively the federal government's. One lawsuit also alleges the council violated the state open meetings act when deciding on the ordinance. Opponents of the regulation gathered enough signatures to force the city to put the measure on the municipal election ballot. More than 3,000 residents out of 14,100 registered voters participated during early balloting, which ended Tuesday. That's about 2,000 more than the total number who voted in each of the past two municipal elections, according to the Dallas County Elections Department. Around the country, more than 90 local governments have proposed, passed or rejected laws prohibiting landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ them or training police to enforce immigration laws. Although local proposals aimed at regulating illegal immigration have historically been approved, they often fail to pass constitutional muster, said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law. "There is significant frustration, so that's what's driving it," Chishti said. "But the simple fact is they cannot do too much other than impress upon the Congress the need for immigration reform."
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
We need thousands more following exactly in the steps of the mayor of Hazleton, PA, and more initiatives on ballots everywhere.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
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