Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Judge blocks Texas town's immigrant law, will of the people subverted again

This is from AP, via Yahoo.com:

Judge blocks Texas town's immigrant law

By ANABELLE GARAY, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 18 minutes ago

The town of Farmers Branch may not yet begin enforcing its voter-endorsed law barring the rental of apartments to most illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay extended his temporary restraining order blocking the law until June 19, when he plans another ruling on whether the measure can be enforced while it is subject to legal challenges.

During a hearing Tuesday, lawyers for the Dallas suburb acknowledged there were still "drafting issues" with the ordinance. They presented a document outlining how the ordinance could be salvaged if the court finds portions of it are flawed.

The ordinance requires managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions. Violators face fines of up to $500, and each day would be considered a separate violation.

Attorneys for the city had no comment after the hearing.

Opponents of the ordinance have argued that it is unconstitutional, discriminatory and too vague.

Among other things, they contend the ordinance uses federal regulations on housing benefits for noncitizens to define who may rent an apartment in the city. Critics of the ordinance say those regulations exclude many people who are in this country legally, such those on student visas or on temporary high-tech work visas.

Lindsay granted a temporary restraining order May 21, a day before the ordinance was to take effect and more than a week after Farmers Branch voters approved the measure. It was the nation's first public vote on a local government measure to crack down on illegal immigration.

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 move or split up.

Since 1970, Farmers Branch has changed from a small, predominantly white community with a declining population to a city of almost 28,000 people, about 37 percent Hispanic, according to the Census Bureau.

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Eh, more bullshit from these assholes in robes. We need serious judicial reform in this country. These boneheads sit behind their benches like they're gods, and constantly subvert the will of the people, while in the meantime, there's no legal or judicial basis behind these decisions.

What is so unreasonable about a voter-supported initiative requiring anyone who rents an apartment in this particular area to show proof of citizenship? What never ceases to shock me, is that there have been numerous polls repeatedly showing that there is, at the least, concern of a large-scale surrounding this country's immigration policy. Upwards of 75-80% concern, if not outright opposition, of U.S. immigration policy. We deserve to be heard, to have our grievances and issues listened to. And what do our politicians and judges do? They go out of their way to ignore us, to make excuses, and press on with stuff like this.

What is unconstitutional about this measure? The Constitution protects U.S. citizens. This is geared against non-citizens. So there goes that.

You know, I shouldn't say this, have to preemptively defend myself from whatever left-wing douchebag decides to leave a comment, but I'm not anti-immigrant. In any way, shape, or form. My ancestors came from somewhere else, your ancestors came from somewhere else, and so on. And yeah, we're a country of immigrants, this big melting pot, so please dispense with the moral lecture, please. But I talk with people regularly, since I work in Patchogue (a steadily illegal-immigrant populated town), and they have legitimate gripes with how their way of life has been impacted. It's not tinged in racism, these are people who have well-spoken, common sense viewpoints. And it's frustrating to me how these people, who pay taxes, who vote, aren't listened to by the powers that be, at all.

That's the great travesty. These short-sighted, corrupt little men (and women, yes, I'm referring to you, Hillary), sell us down the river for a few more votes and because business says so. Yes, I think this issue is steeped in economics; what do you think happens when the U.S. labor market gets a steady deluge of unskilled labor? It doesn't take an economist to figure it out; wages fall.

So if you think you're progressive by jumping on this amnesty, legalization, whatever-you-call it bandwagon, you're not. You're only supporting a situation where in the end, everyone's going to lose. Citizens, immigrants, workers. Everyone except Washington and the elite.





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