http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... 1_8_06.txt

Groups ask judge to stop Escondido ordinance from going into effect
ESCONDIDO -- The same coalition of civil rights groups and private attorneys suing to strike down a controversial ordinance that prohibits Escondido landlords from renting to illegal immigrants also is asking a federal judge to put the brakes on the new law before it goes into effect on Nov. 18.

Court papers filed Tuesday afternoon by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations question the constitutionality of the law, which the Escondido City Council passed 3-2 last month, and asks the judge to make the city put the law on at least a temporary hold.

"It is a necessary first step to placing a hold on this unconstitutional law so that it is not enforced and so that we can stop it in its tracks while we litigate the issue of whether it should be stricken down entirely," said David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties.


City Attorney Jeffrey Epp could not be reached for comment, but has said he believes the ordinance will hold up in court and that the lawsuit and request for a temporary restraining order were expected.

The decision to stop the ordinance from taking effect in 10 days is in the hands of U.S. District Judge John Houston, who is also overseeing the larger suit.

Houston has given the city until Monday to respond to the ACLU's request and has scheduled a hearing on the restraining order for Nov. 16.

"We're hoping that it (Houston's decision) comes before the ordinance goes into effect," ACLU spokesman Rebecca Rauber said Wednesday afternoon.

Under the city's rental ban, landlords found to be "harboring" illegal immigrants would have 10 business days to remove the tenants, or face penalties ranging from suspension of their business licenses to fines of up to $1,000 a day and six months in jail.

The larger suit from the ACLU and others, which asks the federal court to declare the city's rental ban illegal and unconstitutional, had been expected since before the City Council passed the measure last month.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Escondido landlords as well as two anonymous women who live in the country illegally, have children who are U.S. citizens and say their families would be displaced if the measure is enforced.

The request to keep the city from enforcing the ban for the time being includes many of the same basic arguments raised in the larger suit questioning the constitutionality of the case.

The Escondido ordinance is based on part on a broader law passed this summer in the city of Hazleton, Penn. That law also is under fire from the ACLU and other groups, who sued to stop it.

On Oct. 31, the day before the Hazleton law was to go into effect, a federal judge granted the request from opponents that the city hold off on putting the law into action. The temporary restraining order in the Hazleton case expires on Nov. 14.