Thread: Valley Park becomes front line in fight over immigration

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 622254.htm

Posted on Wed, Sep. 27, 2006

Valley Park becomes front line in fight over immigration

CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
Associated Press

VALLEY PARK, Mo. - When City Attorney Eric Martin stood in a courtroom this week and defended Valley Park's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, he faced a sitting panel of 16 men and women.

They were a neatly dressed and attentive group of near-strangers who hung on Martin's every word.

This wasn't an extra large jury. It was the opposing legal team.

Martin sat alone at his table in St. Louis County Circuit Court, arguing that Valley Park was within its legal rights to pass a law in mid-July making it a crime for local landlords to rent homes to illegal immigrants.

On the opposite side of the legal battle is an ad-hoc legal team of some 20 attorneys from St. Louis, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. The team formed in a matter of weeks and provides its services for free, drawing lawyers from public interest groups like the ACLU and private firms like Missouri's largest, Bryan Cave LLP.

With a population of just 6,500, Valley Park has become the front line in a national fight over immigration law. It has joined other cities trying to crack down on illegal immigrants out of frustration with the federal government's inaction on the issue.

Opponents said the law is unconstitutional and want to quickly strike it down to send a strong message to other towns that might be considering similar measures. Attorneys said Valley Park's law has become front-and-center in the fight because its law was enforced more quickly than those of other towns.

"I think communities need to be aware that if they take action that is outside their jurisdiction, programs both nationally and locally will ban together and attack this thing," said Ricardo Meza, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Chicago who is working on the case.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis played a critical role in forming the legal team to fight Valley Park's law. The archdiocese helped more than 20 families relocate from the city and contacted lawyers to help them, spokesman Hector Molina said.

The legal team represents three landlords who claim the law is illegal. The landlords won the first round over Valley Park's law Monday, persuading Judge Barbara Wallace to impose a temporary restraining order stopping the city from enforcing the ordinance.

The Valley Park City Council responded by holding an emergency meeting Tuesday night to repeal the law and replace it with a more detailed version it hoped would better stand up to legal challenges.

Plaintiffs filed a challenge to that law Wednesday morning and asked the judge for another temporary restraining order. Wallace was scheduled to hear their motion late Wednesday.

A key issue in the legal fight is whether towns have the right to enforce federal immigration law. By moving unilaterally, towns like Valley Park and Hazelton, Pa., are testing new legal boundaries, said Susan McGraugh, an attorney with the Saint Louis University Legal Clinic who is working on the case.

"There's been no precedent for this case," McGraugh said. "They're really trying to usurp the authority of the federal government."

Valley Park Mayor Jeffrey Whittaker didn't seem like he was trying to usurp much of anything Tuesday night as he sat in his office before the city council's emergency meeting.

Smiling and relaxed, Whittaker said he introduced the law in July for a simple reason. He was responding to citizen complaints.

"We thought we were helping solve a local problem here and it's just blossomed into a national event," Whittaker said.

Whittaker said he was listening to a talk radio show this summer when he heard that Hazelton, Pa., passed a law barring landlords from renting apartments to illegal immigrants. He called that city and got a copy of the law. Martin, the city attorney, made minor changes to the ordinance before it was enacted by the city council.

The mayor printed a binder full of supportive letters he received since passing the law. They range from an expletive-filled message congratulating Valley Park for cracking down on "beaners" to a handwritten letter from Georgia State Rep. Stephen Hanley supporting the city for upholding federal regulations.

"Our mayor done perfect," said lifelong Valley Park resident Shelba Welker, who gave her age as "60-plus."

"If they're here illegally, they should go back," Welker said of immigrants. "I couldn't live here illegally or I would be put in jail."

Other residents said the new law created an environment of fear when it was passed. Dozens of Hispanics fled the city because they were afraid local police and neighbors would ask to see their documentation, according to several interviews.

Sixteen-year-old Alberto Lopez said four police officers knocked on his family's front door after the ordinance was passed and asked to see immigration documents for everyone who was home.

The family couldn't provide the documents, Lopez said. Police recorded the information. Lopez worries his family could be deported to Mexico, but he is enrolled in Valley Park High School and doesn't want to leave town as others have.

"Moving away - it's like we're running away from a crime we didn't commit," he said.

Lopez's landlord, Stephanie Reynolds, said police contacted her after the visit and said they would forward their report to the city's prosecuting attorney. Reynolds said she became a plaintiff in the suit against Valley Park because she doesn't want to ask tenants if they are legal immigrants.

The legal effort against Valley Park's law is being spearheaded by St. Louis-based attorneys, said Linda Martinez, a partner at Bryan Cave.

Attorneys have been meeting weekly since late summer, and teleconferencing almost daily before this week's hearings, Martinez said. The group has divvied up tasks, assigning different lawyers to do research and interviews while others write affidavits and legal briefs, she said.

Valley Park Alderman Mike White said he's not intimidated by the legal challenge.

"I'm willing to take the legal challenge from them to make everything better and maybe force the federal government's hand," he said.

I STAND UP AND CHEER.

Your city is doing the correct American process to do the Right Thing. I applaud you to stand up and tell the Illegal Immigrants crimminals to LEAVE. Keep up the GREAT Work and I expect that Jennifer Silverberg should also be supporting this. This is America, why are people think it is right to turn our country into a 3rd world country. These people are ILLEGAL, they have NO RIGHTS and should be sent back over whatever border they came from. These Illegal Immigrants were not here 10-20 years ago so we know we do NOT need them here. It is just more LIES when Pro Illegal Immigrants say these people are needed. We do not NEED more Criminals, people with no ethics and want to tear down my country.

Welcome Jim.
There is a battle going on in Valley Park. They stand and then get beat down. They're tough and keep foghting. You can lend them a hand in a Focus Campaign with your calls, letters, and emails.

Check it out here:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=39480