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  1. #1
    Senior Member lccat's Avatar
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    Farmers Branch Hit With New (ILLEGAL)Immigration Suit

    It's going to get much worse if McCamnesty becomes President!

    Feb. 5, 2008, 6:32PM
    Farmers Branch hit with new immigration suit
    Ban on home rentals for the undocumented under fire


    By ANABELLE GARAY
    Associated Press

    Complete coverage of immigration issues FARMERS BRANCH — A lawsuit was filed Tuesday over this Dallas suburb's latest effort to keep out illegal immigrants by barring home rentals to people who can't prove their legal status.

    The suit, filed on behalf of real estate broker Guillermo Ramos, alleges the Farmers Branch City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when it drafted and approved the new rule late last month.

    Ramos believes "it's high time that a court give them some strict instruction as to what their obligations are," said his attorney, William A. Brewer III.

    The law requires prospective tenants to get a city license to rent houses and apartments. It was set to take effect 15 days after a ruling on a similar ordinance currently being contested in court.

    Opponents allege that while the council was supposed to discuss legal challenges against a previous ordinance, it actually drafted a new, more sweeping anti-illegal immigration measure behind closed doors, according to the suit.

    City spokesman Tom Bryson did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the suit Tuesday.

    There also were only a few days for residents to analyze and deliberate the proposal, opponents say.

    Council members didn't announce until five days before they were to meet that a new ordinance had been drawn up. It wasn't posted on the city's Web site until the Friday before the council met. The next Tuesday, the council approved the measure unanimously, without changing a word of the proposal.

    Farmers Branch's efforts to pass immigration-related laws began nearly two years ago.

    Council members unanimously passed a 2006 ordinance barring apartment rentals to illegal immigrants. The rule was revised last year to include exemptions for minors, seniors and some mixed-immigration-status families. Residents endorsed the law 2-to-1 in May during the nation's first public vote on a local government measure meant to combat illegal immigration.

    A federal judge blocked Farmers Branch from enforcing its ordinance after finding that city officials tried to regulate immigration differently from the federal government. The case remains in court.

    The city then hired a law firm and consulted with Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, to rework the ban and address the challenges to it. They came up with the latest ordinance.

    But the hiring and consulting work weren't clearly disclosed until last month, Brewer said.

    Farmers Branch faces a federal court challenge by apartment landlords and advocacy groups who say the previous ordinance was unconstitutional. Ramos also sued over the city's original rental ban, also contending the council violated open meetings laws.

    "The hostility that ... seems to be apparent as to their obligations under the Texas Open Meetings Act is something that courts have to grapple with and dissuade elected officials from making up their rules as they go," Brewer said.

    Nationally, some 160 local governments have proposed, passed or rejected similar laws, according to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which tracks the data.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 14955.html

  2. #2
    Senior Member azwreath's Avatar
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    Opponents allege that while the council was supposed to discuss legal challenges against a previous ordinance, it actually drafted a new, more sweeping anti-illegal immigration measure behind closed doors, according to the suit.


    There also were only a few days for residents to analyze and deliberate the proposal, opponents say.







    Oh, I see. And were Ramos and other opponents equally upset when it came to <cough> Comprehensive Immigration Reform and Kennedy, McCain and the rest did the same thing Farmers Branch is being accused of?
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