The Nebraska Supreme Court has recently ruled that they cannot rule on the constitutionality of the immigration laws set to be vote on by Fremont citizens, perhaps as soon as this summer. Instead the court said they couldn’t make any ruling until it is voted on or becomes law.
The bill would ban landlords from knowingly renting to illegal immigrants, as well as require police to check the immigration status of renters. The debate arose in 2008 when a petition with over 3000 signatures circulated supporting such action.
The petition seems to be highly similar to the bill recently passed in Arizona, requiring police to check immigration statuses of “suspicious” looking people. In both cases, it seems, there is no way to determine who is and who is not here illegally by any other methods than using discrimination. It is unlikely that any white person seeking to rent in Fremont would be asked to verify that they are a citizen in the same way immigrants or other “immigrant-appearing” people will be asked to identify themselves as lawfully in the U.S.
Of course, the bill has not yet been voted on or passed, but it will be interesting to see the results, especially after Arizona has received so much criticism from across the U.S and from people of Hispanic heritage.
The reason this looks so similar to the Arizona law is because it was written or partially written by the same person, Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas city law professor who has made it his mission to pass such measures all over the country. He is also currently suing the state of NE in an attempt to repeal the DREAM Act.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us/28legal.html