|
Texas Town Joins Illegal-Immigrant Trend
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas This Dallas suburb could become the first city in Texas to adopt a sweeping ordinance intended to keep out illegal immigrants, a cause for concern among its large minority population.More than 50 municipalities nationwide have considered, passed or rejected laws banning landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ undocumented workers and making English the local official language. Susie Hart, who grew up in Farmers Branch, said during a recent demonstration outside City Hall, "The education system is tanking, health care has gone through the roof, everybody is bilingual." The measure is expected to be submitted to the council on Monday, but there was no indication when it might be put to a vote. Since 1970, Farmers Branch has changed from a small, predominantly white bedroom community with a declining population to a city of almost 28,000 people, about 37 percent of them Hispanic, according to the census. It also is home to more than 80 corporate headquarters and more than 2,600 small and mid-size firms, many of them minority-owned. The local debate over illegal immigration began in August and spawned demonstrations by both sides of the issue. Council members adopted a resolution criticizing the federal government for not aggressively addressing the issue. The Farmer's Branch proposal follows a vote this year in Hazleton, Pa., to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, deny business permits to companies that employ them and require tenants to register and pay for a rental permit. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the Hazleton ordinance while he considers a lawsuit against the town by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. More than a dozen other Pennsylvania cities have taken up similar ordinances, as have several others in the South and a handful in California. Many of the towns and counties have based their ordinances on a model provided by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which favors limits on immigration and is affiliated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. And in North Carolina Gaston County: No funds for illegal residents Gaston County commissioners have directed county officials to stop funding programs for undocumented immigrants in what marks the Charlotte region's most aggressive measure against illegal immigration. The resolution, passed Thursday by the all-Republican board, blames people living here illegally for a variety of social ills, and also orders county officials to limit their ability to live and work in the county. The resolution also directs county departments not to contract with companies that hire illegal immigrants, and it calls for a limit on the number of people who can live in rental homes. More than half of the estimated 600,000 Hispanics in the North Carolina are believed to be in the country illegally. According to 2005 Census Bureau figures, about 9,500 Hispanics live in Gaston County, which has a population of about 196,000. Posted by: trailing wife 2006-11-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=171851 |