Thread: Escondido council meeting heats up over illegal immigration

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Escondido council meeting heats up


Angry words over illegal immigration
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 28, 2006

ESCONDIDO – In a prelude to what is likely to be one of the most contentious City Council meetings in city history next week, a seemingly simple request by Councilman Ron Newman yesterday became a emotional debate about illegal immigration.

Next week, the council is scheduled to consider an ordinance designed to attack illegal immigration head-on by fining landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants.

Newman, who is against the proposed ordinance, asked the council yesterday to consider establishing a tracking system to see how much the new law would cost the city. He said a system should be put in place that would count the number of landlords cited, and the money collected in fines.

The number of illegal immigrants forced to leave their homes should be documented, he said, and a running tab on legal fees should be accounted for. Many people have threatened to sue the city should the ordinance be enacted.

“This is not intended to be controversial,” Newman said of his request. “It's strictly to establish an accountability process.”

But it was controversial.

Council members Marie Waldron and Sam Abed said any such tracking system, to be fair, should consider what the financial impact of illegal immigration is on the city.

“If we're going to do tracking we need to consider the whole picture,” said Waldron, who proposed the ordinance.

“The time for studies is over,” she added. “It's time for action.”

Councilman Ed Gallo asked, “what is the value of the sanctity and sovereignty and safety of the United States and California and Escondido? Can you put a cost on that?”

He added: “We all know (the ordinance) is going to be effective. You're darn right it will. That's why so many people are afraid of it. It's the cost of running the city, and we're going to do it. I love this town and I'm not going to let it go downhill.”

Gallo then mentioned the recent killing of a police officer in Houston, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, and that Oceanside Police Officer Tony Zeppetella, who was shot to death in June 2003 by an undocumented man.

Newman, a retired San Diego Police captain, became visibly upset. He said he was offended by the suggestion that his request for a tracking system for the proposed ordinance was being equated with the killing of police officers.

“Give me a break here,” he said angrily. “I'm simply trying to give this community some accountability.”

In the end, the council voted unanimously to have a tracking system proposal prepared by staff for consideration next week, which is when the ordinance is scheduled to be presented to the council. The direction was somewhat vague and might not be acted on next week.

Escondido City Attorney Jeffrey Epp said the final touches on the ordinance were being made. His challenge is to create an ordinance that is legally defensible and doesn't violate various federal housing and civil rights laws.

Other smaller cities that have enacted similar laws, mostly on the East Coast, are being sued, and numerous speakers last night said they would try to be first in line at the courthouse should the ordinance pass.

In a letter issued yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union warned that the proposed ordinance would be difficult to interpret, would probably be pre-empted by numerous federal laws and would “create unnecessary hardship and homelessness, particularly for innocent children, as well as an expensive bureaucracy for the city.”

The letter said the ACLU wa “prepared to launch an immediate legal challenge to any unlawful ordinance that the city of Escondido may enact relating to the issue of immigration.”

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J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com

LOOK EVERYBODY!

The ACLU is trying to scare another American City out of doing the right thing and enforcing laws!!!

ACLU! America doesn't need U!

Dixie

The goons are also going after council woman Marie Waldron by vandalizing her store. She related article.

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Last modified Wednesday, September 27, 2006 11:18 PM PDT

Escondido council agrees to track costs of proposed ban on renting to illegal immigrants

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- The City Council unanimously agreed in principle Wednesday to track costs, staff time and the results of a proposed ban on renting to illegal immigrants, though several members disagreed on what information should be included in such reports.

Councilman Ron Newman said he wanted to "establish some kind of accountability process" for the proposed ban in order to keep tabs on its exact costs to implement and defend.

"It was not my intention to have controversy, and I'm not taking a side on this particular ordinance one way or the other," Newman said. "It's simply to establish a system we can use for regular review."


Newman proposed a tracking method that would regularly report on how many hours city staffers dedicate to enforcing the ban, the cost of fighting any legal challenges, and determining how many landlords are cited and illegal immigrants are removed from the city, if the ordinance is adopted.

City Hall plans to release the final ordinance Friday, with the council considering whether to adopt the resolution on Oct. 4. Newman's tracking process will be considered at the same time.

But a council majority made up of those in support of the proposed ban, said that although accountability is a laudable goal, it is wrong to single out one particular ordinance. And they said any tracking process should also measure any financial benefits to the city that would result from the law.

"The cost analysis that has been asked for is just one part of the equation," said Councilman Sam Abed, adding that he wanted city officials to provide the costs of illegal immigration and residential overcrowding in any review of the ban.

Regularly reviewing the costs of enforcing a rental ban would amount to a "dog and pony show" said Councilman Ed Gallo.

"What is the value of the safety and sovereignty of the United States of America?" asked Gallo. "Of the state of California? Of the city of Escondido? Can we put a cost on that?"

Councilwoman Marie Waldron, who originally proposed the ordinance, questioned the motives for adding an accountability measure to just one council resolution.

"This one being singled out, it raises a few eyebrows," Waldron said. "But my concern is that we have an effective ordinance."

Waldron, who is up for re-election, has had her own motives questioned, with many community members, as well as Newman, saying at council meetings that the ban was a political move to gain votes and divide the community.

Newman said he would support future efforts to establish a general review process for all council resolutions. But he said that the nature of a rental ban, and its impending apparent approval, warranted immediate action.

Escondido is one of nearly three dozen cities nationwide to consider similar laws for their community. If adopted, it would be the first California city to enact such a measure, and just the sixth in the country to ban illegal immigrants from renting housing.

Many of the other towns and cities also voted to prohibit business licenses for companies that hire undocumented workers, and to make English the official language of local government.

Before voting, council members heard from about a half-dozen speakers who, although generally against the proposed rental prohibition, encouraged the council to attach some accountability to the measure, which has regularly generated large crowds of supporters and detractors at recent council meetings.

Roy Garrett, an Escondido attorney and landlord who has promised the council several times that he will be the first to bring a lawsuit against any adopted rental ban, called the proposed ordinance "draconian in its effects."

Garrett said that the council should expand the notion of costs to include things such as lost sales tax revenue and other possible effects of any ban.

Kian Kaeni, an organizer with the Los Angeles chapter of People for the American Way, said attaching a review process to the law was simply good government.

"It's a huge mistake to pass an ordinance of this magnitude without knowing how it's working," Kaeni said.

-- Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.