Posted on 05/17/2010 8:17:10 AM PDT by stan_sipple
After months of legal wrangling, voters in Fremont will be asked next month to weigh restrictions on hiring and renting to illegal immigrants.
But the same concerns of racial profiling that threaten to derail a new Arizona law empowering police to question suspected illegal immigrants are being raised in this eastern Nebraska city, and Fremont officials suggest the measure's passage would prompt lawsuits.
Kristin Ostrom, who helps oversee the "Nebraska is Home" campaign in Fremont, which touts the benefits legal immigrants bring to the community, said racial profiling is already on the rise.
"Hispanic citizens now have been targeted and experiencing a great deal of discrimination, both in words and actions. That is not good at all.
"... To then have a particular policy, we are very concerned."
Fremont is among a handful of Nebraska cities that have seen marked demographic changes primarily because of an influx Hispanic workers at meatpacking plants. Illegal immigration has stirred strong opinions in the community of 25,000.
Under the proposed ordinance set for a June 21 vote, renters would have to get a license from the city. Afterward, city officials would be required to check a database to see if renters were in the country legally.
The ordinance also would require employers to check workers against the federal E-Verify database to see if they were in the country legally.
Supporters of the proposal say it's needed to make up for what they see as lax enforcement by federal officials.
Opponents say it could fuel discrimination.
Jerry Hart, one of three Fremont residents who petitioned for the public vote, doesn't buy that. "The people they're dealing with aren't a race," he said. "You can't be racist to somebody who's not a race. We're dealing with illegals. Illegals are not a race."
He said the federal government isn't controlling immigration, so Fremont and other communities need local ordinances to protect jobs for legal residents and curb spending on education and medical care for illegal immigrants.
"A lot of people are looking at Fremont to see what's going to happen. In Nebraska itself, a lot of communities are waiting," he said, adding that he's fielded questions from residents in seven or eight other Nebraska communities, including South Sioux City, Columbus and Schuyler, who want similar laws there.
Hart's group hired Kansas City, Mo.-based attorney Kris Kobach, who's been involved in legal battles over local ordinances in Pennsylvania, Texas and Missouri and the controversial Arizona law, to help in its fight for a public vote.
The Arizona law empowers police to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're illegal immigrants and makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally. It takes effect July 29 unless implementation is blocked by court injunctions requested under several pending legal challenges. Critics say the law could lead to racial profiling.
Kobach said the national debate over Arizona's law is raising awareness of illegal immigration and should boost voter turnout for Fremont's election, "but I don't think it will swing the election one way or the other."
If the measure passes, city officials anticipate lawsuits will follow.
"Other cities that have passed nearly identical ordinances have been sued almost immediately," said Fremont Councilman Gary Bolton.
That's why the city has been hesitant to put the measure to a vote. The special election was supposed to be held last summer. But it was stopped after the city raised concerns about the constitutionality of the measure, then asked a court to stop the process before the city went to the expense of holding the election. The city lost in district court and appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Last month, the Nebraska Supreme Court said it wouldn't bar the election, upholding the Dodge County District Court judge who said he didn't have authority to stop the vote.
The city council had considered a policy similar to the proposed ordinance in 2008 and narrowly rejected it. But proponents collected enough signatures to put it on track to a public vote.
Kobach said that while local immigration laws have been challenged in court, they've been prevailing.
"There are good strong court precedents out there establishing that Fremont will be on solid ground," he said. "That's not to say that some organization, like the ACLU, won't threaten a lawsuit anyway."
Messages left for ACLU Nebraska were not returned.
Hart's group will campaign for its passage. He said plans are being made to pass out flyers and to call the more than 4,100 people who signed the petition, urging them to vote.
Ostrom said her group, which opposes the law and supports legal immigrants, is formulating its own campaign against the measure.
I have some theories and dim memories, but it was never, as I recall, intended to protect muslim terrorists and illegal criminals streaming over our borders.
For the record, I think racial profiling is a good thing. The target may or not be a wanted criminal. If he's not, what's the problem?
I'm even prepared to put an "Immigrant" bumper sticker on my cars...
As long as it applies to everyone, the Aztlan crowd can just go pound sand.
“”Hispanic citizens now have been targeted and experiencing a great deal of discrimination, both in words and actions. That is not good at all. “
BULL
unitl Che Obama declares them all legal and citizens of the North American Union, they are invaders and I say do what you gotta do
I KNEW there was a catch.
*Sighing in CA...*
Ping!
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