ACLU will appeal ruling; city will enforce employment portions of ordinance

Fremont Tribune
February 29, 2012
By Chris Zavadil

Employment portions of Fremont's illegal immigrant ordinance will go into affect March 5, but the rest of the ordinance will continue to be delayed.


The Fremont City Council, after an hour-long executive session tonight, unanimously approved implementing portions of the ordinance requiring employers and city contractors to use E-Verify.


Employers have until May 4 to fully comply.


The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska announced earlier today it will appeal Chief U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp's Feb. 20 decision to leave intact part of Fremont Ordinance 5165. City officials said they will cross appeal.


Smith Camp struck down portions of the ordinance prohibiting the harboring of illegal aliens, providing for the revocation of occupancy licenses, and penalties following the revocation of an occupancy license, but let stand provisions for obtaining an occupancy license and requiring employers to use the federal E-Verify system.


Smith Camp issued the summary judgment in response to lawsuits filed against the ordinance by the ACLU and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.


Fremont voters passed the ordinance on June 21, 2010, and it was scheduled to take effect on July 29, 2010, but the city council had delayed its implementation until legal challenges are settled.


In a letter to city council members Tuesday, the ACLU asked that the ordinance’s enforcement continue to be delayed.