Jun 5, 2007 1:58 pm US/Central
Farmers Branch Rental Ban Stopped Again
Judge Says He Needs 2 More Weeks To Decide
DALLAS (AP) ―
The suburb of Farmers Branch cannot yet begin enforcing a voter-endorsed law preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The temporary restraining order that prevents enforcement -- first granted in May -- will remain in effect until June 19, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay ruled. That's when Lindsay will decide whether to issue an injunction until all legal challenges to the ordinance are settled.
During the hearing Tuesday, Farmers Branch attorneys admitted there were "drafting issues" with the ordinance. They also presented a document outlining how to salvage the ordinance if the court finds portions of it are flawed.
Opponents contend the ordinance uses federal housing regulations to determine who can live in Farmers Branch. The problem with that, opponents say, is that those regulations are used to determine who qualifies for housing subsidies and exclude many people in the country legally from qualifying. For example, someone on a student visa or on a temporary high-tech work visa would not qualify under federal housing regulations, yet is in the country legally.
Attorneys for the city had no comment after the hearing.
The ordinance would require managers to verify that apartment renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them. Some exceptions are made for the elderly and minors. Violators face fines of up to $500, and each day would be considered a separate violation.
Lindsay granted a temporary restraining order May 21, a day before the ordinance was to take effect. The decision came more than a week after Farmers Branch voters became the first in the nation to prohibit landlords from renting apartments to most illegal immigrants.
"Public approval of the Ordinance, by itself, does not guide the court as to whether the Ordinance complies with the law," the judge wrote in his 20-page order halting the regulation's enforcement.
City Council members first approved the ban in November without discussion, then revised it in January to include exemptions for minors, seniors and some mixed-status families.
Opponents of the ordinance sued, alleging the regulation unconstitutional, discriminatory and too vague.
Apartment owners and managers are concerned they have little or no training on the ordinance and documents needed to establish immigration status. Yet they face legal repercussions if they break the law.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union 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.
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