Farmers Branch rental to illegals law struck down.
This was expected but the good part is that illegals were getting out of town before the vote even came up. They knew where that was going. I'm no legal eagle but I don't know how any locality can pass such a law and have it withstand legal challenge.
Oh, well. They left didn't they? Consider that a victory.
A federal judge found Wednesday that a Dallas suburb's rule prohibiting apartment rentals to illegal immigrants was unconstitutional and could not be enforced.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay concluded only the federal government can regulate immigration. Farmers Branch didn't defer to the federal government in immigration matters. Instead, the city tried to create its own classification to determine which noncitizens could rent in Farmers Branch, the judge said.
The judge found that violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the federal government to preempt local laws.
Farmers Branch's ordinance also didn't comply with the due process clause of the 14th Amendment because it was vague.
The rule failed to provide clear guidance that immigration documents were acceptable and didn't explain what was meant by the ordinance phrase "eligible immigration status," the judge wrote.
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Comment by aza spade— 2008/05/28 @ 11:29 PM — (Reply)
Comment by Dr. Forest— 2008/05/29 @ 11:04 AM — (Reply)
Comment by aza spade— 2008/05/29 @ 11:48 AM — (Reply)
Our laws are such that the regular cop on the beat isn't even supposed to ask about immigration status of people he stops much less arrest them for an immigration violation. He might hold them for ICE if he has cause. That's where the federal 287 g program kicks in. It empowers police to be able to cross that line.
In Farmers Branch they seemed to have crossed over that line of what a locality can and can't do. It wouldn't surprise me to see them try to rework their law to pass scrutiny but it's going to be tough. Something similar happened in Hazelton.
Comment by Burns— 2008/05/29 @ 01:45 PM — (Reply)