Judge: Farmers Branch illegal immigrant rule unconstitutional

[sonias]

Houston Chronicle 5/28/08
Judge: Farmers Branch illegal immigrant rule unconstitutional

FARMERS BRANCH — 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 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.

Lindsay also wrote that the city's attempts to salvage the ordinance faltered because they would have required the court to draft laws. That function is outside of the court's duties.

Council members passed the ordinance last year. It would have barred apartment rentals to illegal immigrants and required landlords to verify legal status. The rule would have exempted minors and people 62 and older from having to prove their immigration status or citizenship.

Families made up of citizens and undocumented members would have been allowed to renew an apartment lease if they met three conditions: they were already tenants, the head of household or spouse was living legally in the United States, and the family included only the spouse, their minor children or parents.

:woohoo::toast::bounce:

Sonia

[hobbit709]

1. When those idiots up there came up with this bit of stupid

My thinking was that it wouldn't pass the smell test. Says something about their thinking when after all the years I used to spend drinking and drugging my brain still works better than that.

[Vogon_Glory]

5. This Was An Effort At Gentrification

There was an article in D magazine (A slick magazine for the well-to-do and social climbers published in the Dallas metro area) about the genesis of this squalid affair. The original intention was to use the ordinance as a means of creating a "Highland Park North" by pushing out middle-income and lower-income folks so that their properties could be redeveloped for people with deeper pockets. Unfortunately, support for the ordinances also caught fire as a means of rousting out those "illegal immigrants" which has an innate appeal to much of the Anglo suburban mindset.

I don't know if this article can be googled on-line. I don't have high-speed internet or the time to go looking. Someone else could pick up the ball.

Another cute trick by these underhanded gentrifiers has been an effort to restrict how people paint and decorate the exteriors of their houses.

[tammywammy]

6. Was this the article?

http://www.dmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=7155F7796F354F21B1183937D847D6DF&tier=4&id=DFB8F93ADE564E32AF244F86E01E4885

[Vogon_Glory]

7. No, It Wasn't; It Was An Earlier Article

No it wasn't, it was an earlier article in D magazine. But the very same themes that are currently being played out--boosters blithely using racism and immigrant-bashing as tools to run lower-income people and the businesses that serve them were definitely there. This political move started at the mayor's mostly-white evangelical church and is still going on.

I am saddened and appalled that this sort of stuff is still going on in Texas. I thought that we Texans had grown up in this area and this sort of race-baiting crap was something found beyond our borders. I hate being wrong.

I suspect that the only way to send a message to Farmer's Branch is not only to boycott any business headquartered in Farmer's Branch, but also to consider selectively boycotting any businesses that even have branch operations in Farmer's branch.

[Lithos]

2. FB's government was trying to enact an old style suburbia

Where we select who we want to move here... People of color need not apply of course.

I know of several FB residents who detested this thing as not only racist, but also a big waste of tax dollars.

L-

[sonias]

3. Well your FB contacts were a lot smarter than the goons running city hall

Good for them. Maybe they'll step up and recruit better people to run for council.

Sonia

[sonias]

4. On a related note - Hispanic lawsuit on FB elections

Dallas Morning News 5/28/08
Hispanic residents testify against Farmers Branch election system

Testimony continued Wednesday in a Dallas federal court in a lawsuit in which three Hispanic residents are trying to force Farmers Branch to elect City Council members by district rather than citywide.

The three contend that the current, at-large system dilutes the voting strength of Latinos. Although Farmers Branch was 37 percent Hispanic at the time of the 2000 census, the plaintiffs say, history has shown that a Hispanic cannot win a city election.

They contend that if the city were divided into districts, it would be possible to create one with a Hispanic voting majority could be created, which would increasing the chances of a Latino winning a council seat.

"All they want is to be able to elect a candidate of their choice," plaintiffs’ attorney Rolando Rios said Tuesday during the first day of testimony.

Bob Heath, an attorney for the city, said federal law requires those who want to force such a change to show that they can draw a district in which a majority of the voting-age U.S. citizens are Hispanic.

Coincidence?

Sonia