Immigration measure OKd in Dallas suburb

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% to 32% 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 City Councilman Tim O’Hare, the ordinance’s lead proponent.

Council members approved the ordinance in November, then revised it in January to include exemptions for minors, seniors and some families with a mix of legal residents and illegal immigrants.

Farmers Branch has become the site of protests and angry confrontations, and opponents of the regulation gathered enough signatures to force the city to put the measure on the municipal election ballot.

With Saturday’s approval of the ban, opponents plan to fight it in court and will seek a restraining order to stop the city from enforcing it.

The city was already facing four lawsuits brought by civil rights groups, residents, property owners and businesses who contend that the ordinance discriminates and that it places landlords in the precarious position of acting as federal immigration officers.

Their attorneys say that the ordinance attempts to regulate immigration, a duty that is exclusively the federal government’s.