From the Associated Press via My Way News:
Voters in this Dallas suburb became the first in the nation Saturday to prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants.
The ban was approved by a vote of 68 percent to 32 percent in final, unofficial returns.
The balloting marked the first public vote on a local government measure to crack down on illegal immigration.
“It says especially to Congress that we’re tired of the out-of-control illegal immigration problem. That if Congress doesn’t do something about it, cities will,” said Tim O’Hare, a City Council member who was the ordinance’s lead proponent.
The ordinance requires apartment managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions.
The United States Department of Justice monitored the election to ensure polling places were in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.
My question is, “Why is this newsworthy? Shouldn’t it already be illegal to knowingly rent to someone that is in this country illegally? Sense when is upholding the law a bad thing?”
In 1977, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the state of California could penalize employers who hire illegal aliens. Furthermore, federal mandate states that apartment owners who rent to illegal aliens can be fined and prosecuted. So Farmers Branch is merely enforcing what the Federal Government has already established.
Around the country, more than 90 local governments have proposed, passed or rejected laws prohibiting landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalizing businesses that employ them or training police to enforce immigration laws.
There are approximately 1.5 million illegal aliens in Texas. Texans spend more than $4 billion annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings. Taxpayer-funded medical outlays for health care provided to the state’s illegal alien population amount to about $520 million a year. The uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Texas’s state and county prisons amounts to about $150 million a year. If you live in Texas, you are paying about $725 a year to cover the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens throughout the state. Now doesn’t that make you feel all warm-and-fuzzy on the inside?
And then you have cities like San Francisco and Detroit that openly brag that they will help shield illegal immigrants from prosecution. They want “diversity” in their community. The dictionary definition of “diversity” is: the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness. This doesn’t include lawbreakers. If that were the case, then there shouldn’t be a problem accepting non-convicted murderers, robbers, and sexual predators in the neighborhood as well. Because, after all, lawbreakers shouldn’t be punished because they are “different,” right?
Congratulations, Farmers Branch. I hope your spirit spreads to other communities.
Farmers Branch, illegal immigrant, illegal alien
