County retreats on illegal migrant tenant law
Fri Jan 5, 2007 6:02 PM ET

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By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A suburban county in Georgia has halted enforcement of a law passed in December to penalize landlords who fail to verify the immigration status of tenants, lawyers who challenged the ordinance said on Friday.

The move marks an apparent setback for local governments trying to crack down on illegal immigrants in the absence of successful attempts by the U.S. Congress to legislate comprehensive immigration reform.

Cherokee County will delay enacting the ordinance until legal challenges to similar laws in Hazelton, Pennsylvania and Valley Park, Missouri, are resolved, the lawyers said.

Its decision could deter other local authorities from attempting to set similar laws before action by Congress, which failed to make progress on the immigration last year, the lawyers said.

The county said it would comply with an order issued by a district judge restraining implementation of its ordinance after lawyers challenged it in court.

"This (December) ordinance imposes a great burden on landlords and tenants in Cherokee County and ultimately leads to discrimination against Latino prospective tenants," said Isaiah Delemar, southeast acting regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Georgia has one of the highest immigration rates in the United States and thousands of foreigners have arrived in Cherokee County in the past decade. However, no official figures exist on the number of illegal immigrants in the county, which lies north of Atlanta.

Under the December ordinance, passed unanimously at a stormy county meeting, landlords were obliged to determine the legal status of potential tenants and could be fined for violating the law.

"The harboring of illegal aliens ... and crime committed by illegal aliens harm the health, safety and welfare of legal residents in the County," the ordinance said. Cherokee also made English its official language, a largely symbolic gesture.

Lawyers challenged it in a federal suit on behalf of seven anonymous residents who rent mobile homes and the owner of a mobile home park in the county.

They said it would violate the U.S. Constitution because local authorities could not make law on national matters such as immigration since the result would be a patchwork of laws across the country.

They also said the ordinance required landlords to become investigators for the government and said the social effect of the ordinance would be to create a climate of suspicion between landlords and tenants.

"The federal government needs to take action to stop local governments acting in frustration," attorney Jamie Hernan who represented plaintiffs told a news conference.

The decision to halt enforcement mirrors a decision taken by the Escondido City Council in California and comes amid a legal challenge to laws passed in Hazleton to penalize landlords and business who employ illegal immigrants.



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