News (Noticias) Tagged ‘Farmers Branch’

Last week, after months of waiting, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay in Dallas told Farmers Branch officials that Ordinance 2903, which sought to keep illegal immigrants from renting apartments in the city, was unconstitutional.

As expected, the judge pushed back the city’s efforts to enforce federal immigration laws locally, in this case by shifting the burden to apartment owners and managers to ensure that tenants are legal residents.

Although I’m no constitutional law expert, I’ve argued repeatedly that immigration enforcement — regardless of your frustration with the lack of it and all of the problems you believe come from it — is a federal issue. Seeking to mandate that enforcement locally via ordinances is not the way to solve illegal immigration”*

A timeline of Farmers Branch’s efforts to ban the renting of housing to illegal immigrants”*

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Farmers Branch ordinance designed to block apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants.

And he minced no words in refusing to green-light a later ordinance the city’s attorneys had tailored to overcome legal issues related to the first.”*

Testimony continued Wednesday in a Dallas federal court in a lawsuit in which three Hispanic residents are trying to force Farmers Branch to elect City Council members by district rather than citywide.

The three contend that the current, at-large system dilutes the voting strength of Latinos. Although Farmers Branch was 37 percent Hispanic at the time of the 2000 census, the plaintiffs say, history has shown that a Hispanic cannot win a city election.

They contend that if the city were divided into districts, it would be possible to create one with a Hispanic voting majority could be created, which would increasing the chances of a Latino winning a council seat.”*

Undocumented residents who live in Farmers Branch and Carrollton, Texas have been put on notice. Weekend elections held in these two suburbs north of Dallas have resulted in the elections of two mayors who share the same agenda: to drive out undocumented immigrants living within their boundaries.”*

Look for the fight against illegal immigration to intensify in Dallas’ northwest suburbs.

Carrollton’s next mayor, Ron Branson, said Sunday that he’ll begin working immediately to rid the city of illegal immigrants.

His come-from-behind election victory Saturday night coincided with the expected mayoral win in neighboring Farmers Branch by a better-known activist on the same issue: Tim O’Hare.

“*

The Dallas City Council has appointed attorney Angel Reyes to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors.

The DART Board is a 15-member group, comprised of individuals from the member cities including Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, Cockrell Hill, Farmers Branch, Garland, Glenn Heights, Highland Park, Irving, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett and University Park.

“DART plays a fundamental role in helping Dallas and the surrounding communities work better,” says Mr. Reyes, managing partner of the Dallas law firm Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei. “I am honored to serve on the board, and hope I can do a small part to make DART the modern, flexible and accessible transportation system we all want and need.”

Mr. Reyes was nominated to the post on the DART Board of Directors by Dallas City Councilwomen Dr. Elba Garcia and Pauline Medrano and Councilman Steve Salazar. The Dallas City Council approved his appointment by unanimous vote during its regular meeting on April 23, 2008. Mr. Reyes will be sworn in during the next regular board meeting, scheduled for May 13, 2008.

The mission of Dallas Area Rapid Transit is to build, establish and operate a safe, efficient and effective transportation system that provides mobility, improves the quality of life, and stimulates economic development. The job of the DART Board of Directors is to govern that process.

Mr. Reyes and the attorneys at Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei are dedicated to representing clients in matters involving business litigation and life-altering personal injury matters. Mr. Reyes focuses his practice on complex litigation involving insurance companies and corporations.

In addition to the DART Board of Directors, Mr. Reyes also serves as a member of the board of the Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

More information on Mr. Reyes and Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei is available at www.reyeslaw.com.

For more information on Angel Reyes’ appointment to the DART Board of Directors, please contact Mark Annick at 214-559-4630 or

Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet said Saturday’s mayoral races in Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Irving probably won’t break any voter turnout records. But he expects voters in those cities, where illegal immigration has been an issue in the campaigns, to cast more ballots than their neighbors weighing in on other races in the county.”*

Hispanic residents making their first run for office are on Saturday’s ballot for City Council in Farmers Branch and Irving, where illegal immigration is a major issue.

The candidates, two of them 21-year-old college students whose parents are immigrants, say the issue is not the only thing that motivated them to run, but they oppose their cities’ tough stands. They said the campaign trail has come with threatening phone calls, cold shoulders and doors closed in their faces.

No Hispanics have been elected to municipal office in Farmers Branch or Irving for at least 10 years, according to the Los Angeles-based National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.”*

Elected leaders in Lewisville take pride in their city’s political peace and quiet. City Council meetings rarely draw crowds; recent elections haven’t either.

If one issue could stir this politically sleepy suburb, it could be illegal immigration. City leaders have taken an intentionally subtle approach compared with the high-profile campaigns in Farmers Branch and Irving.

But the May 10 council race is amplifying the volume. Candidates report growing frustration from residents. Council candidate John Gorena – a veteran of high-profile immigration rallies in Farmers Branch and Irving – has campaigned vehemently for Lewisville to take a tougher stand against illegal immigrants.”*

The North Texas cities at the epicenter of the local debate about illegal immigration are also home to school districts that in recent years have seen some of the state’s sharpest growth of Hispanic students, according to a Star-Telegram analysis of school data.

Experts who have tracked the vitriolic debates in Irving and Farmers Branch say the enrollment shifts may help explain the tough immigration measures sought by some in these cities.

“Very rapid change seems to make a lot of people uncomfortable,” said Michael Teitelbaum, a demographer at the New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “You could portray it as racism or xenophobia or fear of the other. But you could also say that people like stability in their lives, and they’re willing to accept gradual change but not rapid change.”"*

*From: http://www.star-telegram.com/
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Two of the most visible leaders in local efforts to stem illegal immigration face election this May, bringing the contentious issue back into the spotlight in North Texas.

Tim O’Hare, the Farmers Branch councilman who championed barring illegal immigrants from renting apartments or houses, is running for mayor. Irving Mayor Herbert Gears, defender of a police program that led to more than 2,000 deportations, said he will run for re-election. Other candidates in those cities plan to make immigration an issue.

The campaigns will probably result in a high voter turnout May 10 in both communities, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Jillson said residents don’t see city councils as responsible for other issues important to them, such as Iraq and the economy. But immigration is different.”*

*From: http://www.star-telegram.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Farmers Branch, anticipating legal challenges to its new attempt to ban housing rentals to illegal immigrants, asked a federal judge Monday to immediately begin considering the measure’s constitutionality.

The ordinance, which the City Council adopted last week, would require all prospective tenants in the city to claim U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status when applying for an occupancy license. If a federal database check later showed any non-citizens were here illegally, they would lose their licenses and be subject to fines.”*

*From: http://www.dallasnews.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

City officials whose previous attempts to keep out illegal immigrants have been blocked by the courts took another shot Tuesday, adopting an ordinance that would not only ban them from renting apartments but also from renting houses.

The City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 2952, which would require all renters to pay a $5 fee and claim U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status to obtain an occupancy license from the city.”*

*From: http://www.dallasnews.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

he City Council is scheduled to consider tonight a new rental ban in Farmers Branch’s continuing struggle to oust illegal immigrants from the Dallas suburb.

The proposal would forbid illegal immigrants from renting houses, not just apartments. It would also require prospective renters and adults living with them to pay $5 for a “residential occupancy license” from the city building inspector.

The ordinance represents the city’s latest attempt to make its rental ban stick. The current ban requires landlords to demand proof of citizenship or legal immigration status from their tenants. But that ban quickly attracted lawsuits and cannot be implemented because of a temporary restraining order issued in June by U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay. He is looking at whether the ban is constitutional.”*

*From: http://www.star-telegram.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The immigration debate is back in the spotlight in North Texas. The City of Farmers Branch will once again take up the issue of renting homes and apartments to illegal immigrants.

Although voters in May approved an ordinance to stop landlords from doing so, a judge’s ruling has prevented the law from taking effect.

“Now they’re changing the rules of the game. Now they’re penalizing everybody. This not only penalizes immigrants, it also penalized home owners and non-Hispanics who have to go through the process,” said Hispanic activist Carlos Quintanilla of ACCION America.”*

*From: http://cbs11tv.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Bill Brewer works in a high-rise office, wears fine suits and lives in a Dallas mansion with nine bathrooms and six fireplaces — the rewards for a lawyer called driven, tireless and an attorney who got his start in the region using “Rambo-style” tactics in the courtroom.

While he has taken on some of the region’s highest profile and most lucrative cases, he has a soft spot for what he views as the underdog, most recently illegal immigrants.

At no cost to his clients, the 55-year-old Brewer has thrown the huge resources of his firm, Bickel & Brewer, behind court battles with Farmers Branch and Irving, cities that have taken strong stances against illegal immigration.”*

“A state appeals court has refused to throw out a lawsuit against Farmers Branch that says city officials violated open meetings laws by deciding behind closed doors the first version of an ordinance banning apartment landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

The ruling issued late Friday by 5th District Court of Appeals Judge Molly Francis could pave the way for attorneys to start evidence discovery, which could force the city to divulge what was said in those closed-door discussions, said attorney William A. Brewer III. Mr. Brewer, of the Bickel & Brewer Storefront, represents the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Farmers Branch resident Guillermo Ramos.”*

“Neon greens, bright pinks, electric blues – the colors may look dazzling on tropical fish, but some Farmers Branch residents would rather not see them on their neighbors’ houses.

“When you paint your house some fluorescent or garish color scheme, you negatively affect my [home] value,” said Robin Bernier, who with fellow resident Matt Burton has asked the City Council to consider requiring permits and color approval before residents can repaint.

Others, however, bristle at the idea of policing pigments. “

“Brian Schwartz, owner of the Spanish Trace Apartments in Irving, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Irving, which he claims is involved in an “aggressive attempt to rid itself of working class minority immigrants” — specifically Hispanics who’ve been fleeing Farmers Branch ever since that city approved a ban on renting to illegal immigrants.

Spanish Trace Apartments contains 136 units, most occupied by low-income Hispanic tenants. Schwartz bought the building in 2006; it passed inspection as recently as December. But Schwartz observed a marked difference in the city’s disposition in April, when it stepped up the frequency and severity of its inspections, causing Schwartz to spend more than $100,000 on repairs, which still did not satisfy the city.”

“John Trasviña became president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in November 2006. He had an official introduction to the San Antonio community at a luncheon at Museo Alameda on Thursday, the same day a federal judge ruled an anti-immigration ordinance in Hazelton, Pa., unconstitutional. Similar to an ordinance in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Hazelton’s local law would have fined landlords who rented to undocumented immigrants and denied business permits to owners who hired them.

Trasviña talked with Express-News reporter Michelle De La Rosa about the ruling, his background and the organization’s impact in the Alamo City and Texas.”

“A federal judge here granted a preliminary injunction that forces the city of Farmers Branch to win at trial before it can enforce an ordinance barring apartment rentals to undocumented immigrants.

Agreeing with lawyers for residents and apartment owners who sued, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay wrote that the measure is “based upon a scheme that does not adopt federal immigration standards” and is too vague for landlords to apply.”

“A federal judge on Monday halted enforcement of a voter-endorsed ordinance preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants, a day before the ban was to take effect in this Dallas suburb.

U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay wrote in granting a temporary restraining order that only the federal government can determine whether a person is in the United States legally.”

“Latino activists asked a federal judge Tuesday to block a voter-approved ordinance that would prohibit landlords from renting apartments to most illegal immigrants in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has already sued the city over the regulation, asked for the temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court.”