OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two civil rights groups have filed motions asking a federal judge to block a Nebraska city's ordinance from taking effect that would bar businesses from hiring people who can't prove they are in the country legally and landlords from renting homes to them.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, or MALDEF, filed separate lawsuits Wednesday in Omaha federal court seeking to block the Fremont law from taking effect next Thursday. The groups expect their lawsuits to eventually be consolidated.
MALDEF filed a motion Wednesday and the ACLU filed one Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the law from taking effect. Her office said Thursday that she hadn't set a date yet to hear arguments on the motions.
Voters in Fremont, a city of about 25,000 residents just west of Omaha, approved the measure on June 21. It requires businesses in the city to use the federal E-Verify database to try to authenticate the legal status of workers, and requires potential renters to apply for special licenses.
The rental application process would force Fremont officials to check whether potential renters are in the country legally, and to deny renter's licenses to those who can't prove they are.
The law has alarmed some current renters in Fremont — even some who are legal U.S. residents — said renter Mario Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen who has lived in Fremont since he was 11 years old and who is a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit.
“We're renting on a month-to-month basis,” Martinez said. “I don't know if the landlord is going to require us to get that permit every month that we rent.”
State Sen. Charlie Janssen, a Republican from Fremont, said he takes issue with the concerns of those suing the city.
Janssen said the ordinance clearly states that an occupancy license is valid for as long as the occupant who applied for it lives in the dwelling for which the license is issued.
“Quite simply, the license is good for as long as the person lives in the same place,” he said. “Move, and a new license is required.”
He said concerns about the ordinance can be allayed if people simply take the time to read it, get occupancy licenses and get “in compliance with the law.”
“Immigration is what built this country. Illegal immigration is now destroying it,” the lawmaker said.
Janssen has said he plans to introduce a bill in the Nebraska Legislature next year similar to Arizona's divisive new immigration law. That law, which is also being challenged in court, requires officers, while enforcing other laws, to check a person's immigration status if there's a reasonable suspicion that the person is here illegally. It also bans people from blocking traffic when they seek or offer day-labor services on streets and prohibits illegal immigrants from soliciting work in public places.
Martinez said he thinks many of those who supported the ordinance in Fremont aren't drawing a distinction between illegal immigrants and those in the U.S. legally.
“My wife is a permanent resident of the United States. But a lot of people don't understand that makes her a legal resident,” said Martinez, who works part time while studying for a degree from online college Kaplan University.
The atmosphere in Fremont is growing more hostile, Martinez said, adding that his godfather was recently targeted by a neighbor who supported the ordinance.
“My godfather, he's a U.S. citizen ... but somebody came to his door after the law passed and told him, `You better get ready to move out,”' Martinez said.
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