Thread: ESCONDIDO ILLEGAL ALIEN RENTAL BAN

re: ESCONDIDO ILLEGAL ALIEN RENTAL BAN


U.S. District Judge John Houston will consider whether to issue a restraining order at a hearing Thursday in San Diego. The ordinance is scheduled to take effect Saturday.

The court date was for 3:00Pm today. Does anyone know what happened?

Escondido responds to efforts to block rental ban

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY TIMES
NOVEMBER 14, 2006

ESCONDIDO -- Arguing that a housing ordinance barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants is constitutional and does not conflict with federal and state laws, Escondido's legal defense team on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss civil rights groups' request to prevent the measure from taking effect later this week.


Read Escondido's response to the ACLU's restraining order request

http://www.nctimes.com/pdf/CityResponseTRO.pdf


The city's argument was a response to a request for a temporary restraining order filed by rights groups as part of a larger lawsuit asking the court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and strike down the law altogether.

Escondido's defense team argues that the lawsuit misinterprets the ordinance, that the measure would not affect any of the plaintiffs involved in the suit, and therefore the restraining order should not be granted.

U.S. District Judge John Houston will consider whether to issue a restraining order at a hearing Thursday in San Diego. The ordinance is scheduled to take effect Saturday.

City Attorney Jeffrey Epp could not be reached for comment.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups asked Houston to put the law on at least a temporary hold until a hearing for a temporary injunction can be held. That injunction would suspend the ordinance until the lawsuit opposing the ordinance is litigated.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Roy Garrett, an Escondido landlord and attorney, and two anonymous women, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, who say they live in the country illegally, have children who are U.S. citizens and say their families would be displaced if the measure is enforced.

Kevin Keenan, executive director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, dismissed the city's response to the restraining order request as "mere window-dressing on a harmful, inhumane and unconstitutional ordinance."

In part, the ACLU's lawsuit argues that the ordinance would be preempted by federal laws governing immigration and that it forces landlords to evict tenants without due process.

But according to court documents filed by Escondido's attorneys, the law does not conflict with federal law because it relies on federal immigration authorities to determine a tenant's citizenship or residency status.

"The Ordinance defers entirely to federal law concerning the immigration status of a rental applicant, as well as the procedures used to confirm the immigration of a rental applicant," the argument submitted to the court states.

Under the measure, landlords facing allegations would be required to submit immigration documents for their tenants. The city would forward the papers to the federal government for verification.

The city's response also argues that none of the plaintiffs in the case can prove they will be harmed by the ordinance because it would not affect their current living arrangements.

On Friday, City Manager Clay Phillips issued a memo to city workers declaring that the city would only regulate rental and lease agreements entered into after the ordinance takes effect. Existing month-to-month rental agreements would not be affected, either.

In the memo, Phillips also says that landlords are encouraged to verify tenants' documents in advance of issuing any lease agreements in order to guarantee they will not face complaints of harboring illegal immigrants.

Landlords found to be "harboring" illegal immigrants would have 10 business days to remove the tenants, or face penalties ranging from suspension of their business licenses to fines of up to $1,000 a day and six months in jail.

Phillips' memo states that landlords who prove within 10 days that a formal eviction process against illegal immigrant tenants is in process would not be subject to penalties.

Escondido's ordinance is based in part on a broader law passed this summer in the city of Hazleton, Penn. That law also is being challenged by the ACLU and other groups, who sued to stop it.

On Oct. 31, the day before the Hazleton law was to go into effect, a federal judge granted the request from opponents that the city hold off on putting the law into action. The temporary restraining order in the Hazleton case expires today.

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

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0511_13_06.txt

Download the Lawsuit

http://www.nctimes.com/pdf/esclawsuit.pdf


Download the Ordinance

http://www.nctimes.com/pdf/escordinance.pdf

Okay so when are Americans going to bring about a class action law suit against the ACLU for misrepresentation?
Their title claims American Civil Liberties Union.
I don't see how any illegals are considered Americans.

Well, a judge stepped in as usual.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Nov16/ ... ng,00.html

Anti-Illegal Immigrant Law Put on Hold

Thursday, November 16, 2006

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer


SAN DIEGO — A federal judge temporarily blocked the city of Escondido on Thursday from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge John Houston said that he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and that it may inflict"irreparable harm"on tenants and landlords.

The law had been scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents.

Houston did not say how long his order would last, but said he would schedule a hearing within four months.

The lawsuit was filed this month on behalf of two Escondido landlords and two women who live in the country illegally but whose children are U.S. citizens and attend school in the city. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleged the law illegally punishes landlords.

One of the landlords, Roy Garrett, welcomed the decision.

"(Illegal immigrants) are there, it's reality, it is immoral to force them to leave,"Garrett said.

An attorney for the city declined to comment.

The City Council voted 3-2 last month to require landlords to submit documentation of their tenants'immigration status to the city, which would then verify that information with the federal government.

If tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords would be given 10 days to evict them or face suspension of their business licenses. Repeat offenders could face misdemeanor charges and fines.

Last month, the ACLU persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block the city of Hazleton, Pa., from enforcing a crackdown on illegal immigrants. More than 50 municipalities nationwide have considered, passed or rejected laws to crack down on illegal immigration.

Judge blocks Escondido's rental law

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order blocking Escondido from implementing a housing ordinance that penalizes landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, one day before the measure was to go into effect.

Saying that the law "raises serious questions" about a number of federal and state issues, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston suspended the city's ability to enact the rental ban until a hearing to determine the merits of a pending lawsuit challenging the law can be held, sometime in the next 90 to 120 days.

Houston said he did not believe that attorneys for Escondido had shown that temporarily blocking enforcement of the law -- which would have become effective today -- would hurt the city in any way. Meanwhile, he said, landlords and tenants could face eviction, loss of income or other harmful effects from the ordinance before its constitutionality can be determined.


In issuing his ruling, Houston also said he had "serious questions" about the validity of a recent memorandum by Escondido's city manager that attorneys for the city said was meant to interpret the enforcement of the ordinance.

Last Friday, one week after the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of private and civil rights attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the housing measure, City Manager Clay Phillips issued a memo to city employees stating that the ordinance would not apply to anyone already renting property in Escondido.

During the hearing, attorneys for the coalition argued that Phillips' memo was an attempt to change the law in order to avoid existing legal challenges.

Houston said it appeared that Phillips had "stepped into the role of the City Council" in writing the memo, and that the city manager does not have the authority to "interpret (city ordinances) to the point of legislation."

Under the changes outlined in the memo, the city would only regulate rental and lease agreements entered into after the ordinance takes effect. Existing month-to-month rental agreements would not be affected, either.

The memo also states that landlords are encouraged to verify tenants' documents in advance of issuing any lease agreements in order to guarantee they will not face complaints of harboring illegal immigrants.

Throughout the three-hour hearing, Judge Houston appeared particularly concerned over the possibility of tenants being identified as illegal immigrants and being evicted without due process or a public hearing.

He also expressed concern that landlords could lose money from forced vacancies or be sued by prospective tenants who allege they were falsely shut out of housing based on their immigration status.

"They're out of pocket either way as a result of this ordinance," Houston said during questioning.

The ordinance would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants by suspending their business license for the units in question, and carry fines of up to $1,000 per day for each tenant who continues living at the property after 10 business days.

The city would enforce the ordinance based on written complaints, and ask landlords to provide identification documents for tenants in question.

In order to determine a tenant's immigration status, the city plans to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, an electronic database used by government programs and businesses to verify an individual's eligibility to work or receive public assistance.

Houston said he believed that private rental agreements would not qualify for the program, since individuals would not be receiving a public benefit in return.

The ACLU's lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Escondido landlords, as well as two anonymous women who live in the country illegally, have children who are U.S. citizens and say that their families would be displaced if the measure is enforced.

Attorney Alan Mansfield, who represented the plaintiffs at the hearing, said that the ordinance is unconstitutional because federal supremacy laws pre-empt the city's efforts to regulate immigration at the local level.

Christopher Garrett, a private attorney representing the city, said the law was meant to regulate landlord and tenant agreements, not override fair housing and immigration laws.

"There's nothing in this ordinance that tries to reach out and change state law," Garrett said, adding that the plaintiffs' lawsuit was based "on a gross overreading of the ordinance."

David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said he was pleased with the judge's decision to issue the restraining order. Doing so, he said, "protects the people of Escondido that would be harmed by this ordinance."

The city's legal defense team did not comment after the ruling.

However, upon hearing about the restraining order, Councilman Ed Gallo, who was among the three-member majority that passed the ordinance in October, lamented the judge's decision.

"To say that I'm disappointed would be an understatement," Gallo said. "It's an issue of illegal immigrant people who have no right to be here in the first place."

Gallo said the council will have to meet with its legal team before deciding what the city should do next, but insisted that the goal of preventing illegal immigrants from renting property in the city remained the same.

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

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... _16_06.txt

Previous articles:

http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/10/07/ ... 0_6_06.txt

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... 1_3_06.txt

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... _13_06.txt

http://www.nctimes.com/content/artic...hill111706.jpg

VIDEO

http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/Default ... oId=244889

Rental Ban on Hold
A judge has put a hold on Escondido's controversial city ordinance banning landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.