A Farmers Branch ordinance banning illegal immigrants from renting

[Johnny Bravo]

06:45 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 24, 2010

By DIANNE SOLIS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

A Farmers Branch ordinance banning illegal immigrants from renting apartments in the city is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled today



U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle of Dallas found that the ordinance was an attempt to enforce U.S. immigration laws – something the judge said only the federal government can do.

Boyle issued a permanent injunction to stop Farmers Branch from enforcing its Ordinance 2952.

"Ordinance 2952 is a regulation of immigration and is preempted by the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because the authority to regulate immigration is exclusively a federal power," she wrote in her ruling.

"The Ordinance applies federal immigration classifications for purposes not authorized or contemplated by federal law. As a result, the Ordinance creates an additional restriction on alien residence in the city."

Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O'Hare, a strong supporter of the ordinance, said he would favor appealing Boyle's ruling. But, he said, the City Council would have to vote on that.

"The American people are tired of judges legislating from the bench," O'Hare said. "We will finally have our opportunity to have this matter heard at the appellate court level, where we fully expect to prevail. This decision is not unexpected but welcomed, because it allows us to get closer to this ordinance becoming reality."

Across the nation, reaction to the Dallas decision was swift.

In Austin, at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, legal director Lisa Graybill praised the ruling, saying it "confirms what we have known from the beginning of this fight, back in November, 2006 – that Farmers Branch's effort to legislate in the realm of immigration is a quixotic attempt to circumvent federal law and clearly established precedent. …Hopefully the City of Farmers Branch will get out of the immigration enforcement business and move on to address its municipal obligations through more constructive and constitutional local policies."

Farmers Branch for years has been trying to enforce a ban on landlords renting to illegal immigrants, and Ordinance 2952 was the most recent effort. Previous versions of the ordinance have been struck down by the federal courts.

The city has spent about $3.2 million fighting lawsuits challenging its efforts over the years. The City Council was told in February by its finance director that another $623,000 might be needed in the year ahead.

The renters' ordinances regarding illegal immigrants and the resulting lawsuits have intensified frictions in the community and surrounding areas – and drawn national attention. Two-thirds of Farmers Branch voters approved a version of the ordinance in a vote in 2007.

[Hazcat]

2/3 of the people that live there want it.  It is not enforcing a Fed law it is establishing local law!

[fightingquaker13]

Flip side of that is this. There are federal laws on the books that draft employers (correctly) to enforce federal imigration laws. I'll go along with this. I'm a little less comfy with forcing homeowners who want to rent their property to do the same. On the whole, I'd side with farmer's branch, but there is something to be said about property rights and uniformity of business regs to add to the debate here, which neither side in the immigration debate seems to be paying attention to.
FQ13

[Solus]

I guess it would be 'bad form' for the feds to put a bounty on illegals that was high enough where folks would turn them in rather than hire them?