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Title: Federal judge strikes down Dallas suburb's ban on renting homes to illegal immigrants
Source:
AP
URL Source: [None]
Published: May 29, 2008
Author: Anabelle Garay
Post Date: 2008-05-29 20:34:57 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 104
Comments: 9
Texas town's immigrant-renting rule is struck down Thursday May 29, 8:38 am ET By Anabelle Garay, Associated Press Writer FARMERS BRANCH, Texas (AP) -- A Dallas suburb's ban on apartment rentals to illegal immigrants, an ordinance passed by city leaders and later endorsed in a vote by its residents, is unconstitutional, a federal judge found Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT Only the federal government can regulate immigration, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay concluded in his decision. The city didn't defer to the federal government on the matter, violating the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the federal government to pre-empt local laws, Lindsay said. Bill Brewer, who represented apartment complex operators who opposed the rule, declared victory. "It's a good day, not just for my clients," Brewer said. "It's a good day for people who are thinking clearly about what is the proper role of municipal governments in the immigration debate." Representatives for the city said they had anticipated the outcome. The city has no plans to appeal the ruling because it has already stopped pursuing the ordinance and replaced it with another tactic. "We're disappointed but not particularly surprised," Michael Jung, one of the city's attorneys, said. The Farmers Branch council passed the ordinance last year. It would have barred apartment rentals to illegal immigrants and required landlords to verify legal status. The rule would have exempted minors and senior citizens from having to prove their immigration status or citizenship. Families made up of both citizens and undocumented members would have been allowed to renew an apartment lease if they met three conditions: they were already tenants, the head of household or spouse was living legally in the United States, and the family included only the spouse, their minor children or parents. Residents heavily endorsed the rule a year ago in the nation's first public vote on a local measure to combat illegal immigration. A group of apartment complex operators, residents and advocates sued Farmers Branch. They alleged the rule was so poorly drafted that it could allow exclusion of legal immigrants and citizens from renting, was difficult to abide by because it didn't provide clear guidance for apartment managers and owners, and improperly tried to turn property managers into policing agents. Lindsay then blocked Farmers Branch from enforcing the ordinance, a temporary injunction now made permanent by his decision Wednesday. The rule failed to provide clear guidance that immigration documents were acceptable for proof and didn't explain what was meant by "eligible immigration status," the judge wrote. The city's attempts to salvage the ordinance faltered because they would have required the court to draft laws, he said. That function is outside the court's duties. Farmers Branch has given up requiring landlords to verify immigration status and instead plans to implement a rule that would require prospective tenants to get a rental license from the city, which would then ask the federal government for the applicant's legal status before approving it. Around the country, about 100 cities or counties have now considered, passed or rejected similar laws, but Farmers Branch was the first in immigrant-heavy Texas, according to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which tracks the data.
Poster Comment: "only the federal government can regulate immigration." ++++++++++++++++ OK.... then enforce the already existing laws WHICH regulate it.
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
it is unbelievable that state and city governments have no power to enact ordinances or legislation to protect their sovereignty.
The judge in question is an affirmative action hire and when judicial tyranny enslaves a free people, we have a duty to snap the chains. IMVHO.
Farmers Branch is still fighting illegal immigration through other methods: www.dallasnews.com/shared...ws/stories/031908dnmetfbi mmigrant.327c122.html 3/19/08 Farmers Branch officials expect to soon have a detective trained under the federal 287(g) program to identify illegal immigrants and begin deportation proceedings. The city had sought such training for a jail officer but has been waiting nearly 1½ years without receiving approval, Police Chief Sid Fuller said. More recently, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement offered training for a detective, who would work part time on a regional task force, probably one targeting document and benefit fraud. The investigator would be trained to use federal databases and interview suspects to determine if they are in the country illegally. When not working on the task force or on other duties, the detective would be available to help identify illegal immigrants at the jail. "It's another tool to help us keep the community safe," Chief Fuller said. "As he's investigating crime, if he identifies a suspect who happens to also be in this country illegally, he'll have the authority to process that individual." The chief said the move would require adding a police position, something City Manager Gary Greer said would probably happen with the start of the next fiscal year Oct. 1. A current detective could begin the new duties earlier, however. City Council members said they support the new plan, which the chief briefed them about Tuesday night. "Every tool the city can use to address this issue, the city will be better off," Mayor Pro Tem Tim O'Hare said. "If we stay the course, we'll get the results our residents desire." Council member Ben Robinson agreed. "I think we ought to do it. I think we ought to hire you a detective," he said. Even without 287(g), hundreds of illegal immigrants have been identified in the city jail through another alternative, the Criminal Alien Program. Under CAP, jail officers ask all prisoners whether they were born in the U.S. If the detainees can't show they are here legally, the department contacts ICE agents, who interview them to verify their immigration status. Those not in the country legally are detained up to 48 hours so ICE agents can take them into custody. Since August 2006, Farmers Branch has detained 659 such prisoners, all of whom were taken by ICE, the chief said. He said the city could continue participating in CAP. Under CAP, the Farmers Branch Police Department is basically a "referral system" for ICE, the chief said. The city wanted a jail officer trained to do the job that ICE agents are doing under CAP. But Chief Fuller said that appears to be a dead issue. "They're trying to get the most bang for their buck, and we're a pretty small operation," he said. The department applied for the program in November 2006, at the direction of the City Council. ICE visited to evaluate the department, the chief said, "then everything just sat."
I want that gun.
[Supremacy Clause] This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The ruling of the court is outrageous. The primary purpose for founding a government in the first instance is to protect the rights of the CITIZENS, not the rights of illegal alien invaders. Those rights presumptively include property rights of landlords, and a multitude of other considerations such as free speech, ingress and egress, assembly, but most importantly the right to be secure in ones own country. Illegals are damaging the private citizen in a myriad of ways while benefitting corporate interests to the detriment of local governments, hospitals and in this case landlords. The illegal invasion is a plague that has reached epidemic proportion. Did the founding fathers intend for the Constitution to be utilized to protect invading foreigners over citizens ? Is it likely that the Constitution was implemented for the purpose of turning America into Mexico ??? Fucking ludicrous.
As every good fascist knows, the perpetuation of the fascist fraud depends, in the long run, on the training of fledglings in the faith. The dictators catch their conscripts young and discipline them to think in goose-step. Promises of reward for the faithful and ominous warnings about the dangers of nonconformity play their part in making apprentices firmly believe a mass of lies, half-lies, and nonsense. Doubt, even the tiniest wondering doubt, is the cardinal sin. There are few heretics.
Any Constitutional Lawyers care to take this one up? Unless I misread, doesn't this say that the states can control the "migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit" ? I may be missing something but this may be an 'out' for states.
McCain/Obama '08 -- Because the next step is Socialism rather than Freedom.
Humility will serve no purpose if we allow shit like this to stand. Texas needs to secede or admit that it's locked in to some other form of government that isn't republican in nature, but rather socialist/collectivist and dictatorial. Next they'll approve rape for Mexican nationals. IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. [NAU] He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed [MEXICANS] troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: [Rendition] For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies [CPS] For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. [ILLEGALS ARE MERCENARIES] He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. — John Hancock New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton This government in D.C. has become destructive of our way of life in every conceivable way possible. Enough is enough. They have become traitors to us and our POSTERITY. We have been patient, we have written letters informing the U.S. Govt. of our concerns to no avail. Paying taxes under this tyranny is submission to enslavement and tantamount to suicide. As for me, give me liberty or give me an opportunity to shoot the motherfuckers intent upon denying it.
As every good fascist knows, the perpetuation of the fascist fraud depends, in the long run, on the training of fledglings in the faith. The dictators catch their conscripts young and discipline them to think in goose-step. Promises of reward for the faithful and ominous warnings about the dangers of nonconformity play their part in making apprentices firmly believe a mass of lies, half-lies, and nonsense. Doubt, even the tiniest wondering doubt, is the cardinal sin. There are few heretics.
You speak for me.
We agree to be free ... and will be so long as we're committed to being buried freemen ! And you speak for me.
As every good fascist knows, the perpetuation of the fascist fraud depends, in the long run, on the training of fledglings in the faith. The dictators catch their conscripts young and discipline them to think in goose-step. Promises of reward for the faithful and ominous warnings about the dangers of nonconformity play their part in making apprentices firmly believe a mass of lies, half-lies, and nonsense. Doubt, even the tiniest wondering doubt, is the cardinal sin. There are few heretics.
The Farmers Branch council passed the ordinance last year. It would have barred apartment rentals to illegal immigrants and required landlords to verify legal status.
#2. To: christine (#1)
#3. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
“The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people…and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit!” Schweizerische Schutzenseitunt (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#4. To: X-15 (#3)
#5. To: christine (#1)
(Edited)
it is unbelievable that state and city governments have no power to enact ordinances or legislation to protect their sovereignty.
#6. To: christine (#1)
it is unbelievable that state and city governments have no power to enact ordinances or legislation to protect their sovereignty.
Article 1, Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
#7. To: Jethro Tull (#2)
(Edited)
when judicial tyranny enslaves a free people, we have a duty to snap the chains. IMVHO.
#8. To: noone222 (#5)
The illegal invasion is a plague that has reached epidemic proportion. Did the founding fathers intend for the Constitution to be utilized to protect invading foreigners over citizens ? Is it likely that the Constitution was implemented for the purpose of turning America into Mexico ??? Fucking ludicrous.
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#8)
You speak for me.
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