Judge: Farmers Branch illegal immigrant rule unconstitutional

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

May 28, 2008, 8:32PM
Judge: Farmers Branch illegal immigrant rule unconstitutional

By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press

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.

Residents endorsed the rule 2-to-1 in May 2007 during the nation's first
public vote on a local government measure meant to combat illegal
immigration.

A group of apartment complex operators, residents and advocates sued Farmers
Branch, alleging the rule was so poorly drafted that it could allow
exclusion of legal immigrants and citizens from renting, was difficult to
abide by since it didn't provide clear guidance for apartment managers and
owners and improperly tried to turn property managers into policing agents.

Lindsay then issued a preliminary injunction blocking Farmers Branch from
enforcing the ordinance.

The city hired a law firm and consulted with University of Missouri-Kansas
City law professor Kris Kobach to rework the ban and address the challenges
to it. They came up with the latest ordinance, which council members
approved in January.

It would require prospective tenants to get a rental license from the city.
Farmers Branch would ask the federal government for the applicant's legal
status before approving the rental license. The rule was set to take effect
15 days after a ruling on the previous ordinance.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lindsay denied Farmers Branch's request to have the
revamped ordinance declared constitutional.

Lindsay wrote that federal courts do not give advisory decisions to assure
governments that their statutes pass constitutional muster.

Typically challenges to the constitutionality of a local law involve a
lawsuit, but no one has sued over the ordinance that has not yet taken
effect, Lindsay pointed out.

``Regardlesss of when a plaintiff's claims would become ripe to challenge
the New Ordinance, the court is troubled by what appears to be the city's
desire to find an end run around the injunction and seek and advance ruling
on the constitutionality of the New Ordinance,'' Lindsay wrote.

Around the country, some 160 cities or counties have considered, passed or
rejected similar laws, but Farmers Branch was the first in Texas, according
to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which tracks the data.

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