NJ: Morristown mayor not sure about Farmers Branch


Cresitello: Law to fight illegal immigration flawed
Morristown mayor backs Texas effort, but expects courts to overturn rules

BY MINHAJ HASSAN
DAILY RECORD
Tuesday, May 15, 2007


MORRISTOWN -- Mayor Donald Cresitello believes a Texas town's law that would penalize landlords for renting homes to illegal immigrants will probably be found unconstitutional.

At least one law professor disagrees, however.

On Saturday, residents in Farmer's Branch, a Dallas suburb, overwhelmingly approved a referendum to restrict landlords from renting homes toillegal immigrants.

The unofficial vote margin was 68 percent to 32 percent.

Cresitello said while he applauds the residents' willingness to curb illegal immigration, a local ordinance to address this problem may be beyond a town's jurisdiction.

"I don't think they have the statutory authority to do that,"Cresitello said. "I'm happy to see that the residents are supporting their local council in controlling illegal immigration, but the federal government has to grant you that authority."

Educator disagrees

However, Kris Koback, a law professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, said a 1976 Supreme Court case, De Canas vs. Bica, does give states and towns the authority to implement laws to curb illegal immigration so long as they are carefully devised and contain an anti-discrimination clause, as Hazelton, Pa., does.

In De Canas vs. Bica, the Supreme Court found that a California law making it a criminal offense to employ illegal aliens was not preempted by federal authority over aliens and immigration. It ruled that a state may protect its "fiscal interests and lawfully resident labor force from the deleterious effects on its economy resulting from the employment of illegal aliens."

"The law is solidly behind the towns," Koback said in a phone interview. "It is okay to impose local restrictions."
Local initiatives

Steven Camarota of the Center of Immigration Studies in Washington D.C., said the trend for local towns to implement illegal immigration policies has been growing, largely because of frustration with federal government policies.

"It's happening because the federal government isn't enforcing the laws," he said in a phone interview.

Many groups have filed lawsuits against towns because they are under the impression that only the federal government can deal with immigration issues, Camarota said, mainly on the grounds of preemption and due process.

Cresitello said he instead applied for the Homeland Security Department's 287G program, which deputizes local police officers to double as immigration agents, because of his belief that it is for the federal government to grant that power to local officials.


The mayor has said one of the reasons he wants to implement 287G is to target landlords who are renting out to illegal immigrants. In addition, it could also be used to apprehend contractors who hire them.

Cresitello said 287G enables law enforcement officials to target individuals who "harbor"illegal immigrants.

The mayor added that other towns who have adopted local ordinances to combat illegal immigration, such as Hazelton, and Riverside, a small blue collar suburb in Burlington County, also face similar hurdles.

Riverside case

The mayor of Riverside, George Conard, said he could not comment about the ordinance the council had approved in 2006, saying the case was in litigation.

In July 2006, the Riverside governing body adopted an ordinance that states employers or landlords who rent or hire an illegal immigrant will be fined $1,000 to $2,000 per incident and could be stripped of their business license.

While the law is currently not being enforced by the police officers, the very impression of it has created a dearth of business in rental housing in Riverside, according to various news reports. It is similar to claims made by some owners of stores and eateries on Speedwell Avenue, which is home to many Latino-operated businesses.



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Minhaj Hassan can be reached at (973) 267-9038 or mhassan@gannett.com.


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