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Voters wrong — says ACLU

Latino activists and civil liberties advocates asked a federal judge Tuesday to block a voter-approved ordinance that would prohibit landlords from renting apartments to most illegal immigrants in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberites Union, which have already sued the city over the regulation, asked for the temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court. A group of merchants also suing Farmers Branch in federal court filed a separate request Tuesday to stop the ordinance's enforcement, said activist Carlos Quintanilla.

"It is unfortunate that the residents of Farmers Branch have chosen to implement a law which is not only bad policy, but is likely also unconstitutional," said Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas. "Now the issue will have to be resolved in federal court."

The ACLU and MALDEF contend poor families could be thrown out of homes because of the ordinance. And, the groups say, families in which some people are undocumented and others are citizens or legal immigrants could be forced to either move or split up.

Matthew Boyle, an attorney representing Farmers Branch, said the request for the restraining order isn't surprising and that the city is preparing a response.

"I think they're wasting their time. I think we have legal grounds ... moral grounds," councilman Ben Robinson said of the groups' request.

Farmers Branch voters became the first in the nation Saturday to prohibit landlords from renting apartments to most illegal immigrants. The ban was approved by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent, according to unofficial results.

The ordinance, scheduled to take effect May 22, requires apartment managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions. Violators would face a misdemeanor charge punishable by a fine of up to $500.

City council members first approved the ban in November without discussion, taking comment from the public only after their vote. The policy was revised in January to include the exemptions for minors, seniors and some mixed-status families.

Since 1970, Farmers Branch has changed from a small, predominantly white bedroom community with a declining population to a city of almost 28,000 people, about 37 percent of them Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It also is home to more than 80 corporate headquarters and more than 2,600 small and mid-size firms, many of them minority-owned.

Councilman Tim O'Hare, the ordinance's lead proponent, contends the city's economy and quality of life will improve if illegal immigrants are kept out. O'Hare declined to comment Tuesday.

Civil rights groups, residents, property owners and businesses filed four separate lawsuits, saying the ordinance puts landlords in the precarious position of acting as federal immigration officers and discriminates poor and Latino residents. Their attorneys also say the ordinance attempts to regulate immigration, a duty that is exclusively the federal government's.

Three of the suits were consolidated in federal court. One lawsuit in state court alleges the council violated the state open meetings act when deciding on the ordinance.

Around the country, more than 90 local governments have proposed, passed or rejected laws prohibiting landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ them or training police to enforce immigration laws.