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Old 06-20-2010, 01:16 PM
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Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
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Default Border Fight Creeps North

Border Fight Creeps North
FREMONT, Neb.—A vote Monday brings to a head a two-year battle over immigration that has divided residents here.
The split over a proposed city ordinance to crack down on illegal immigration has spilled over into churches, coffee shops and grocery stores in this agricultural center 35 miles northwest of Omaha—a long way from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Public officials in the once-homogeneous city of 25,000 have been asked not to speak on the topic, casting an odd veil of silence over the city. Mayor Donald "Skip" Edwards declined to be interviewed, saying only that "I'm not going to put myself in a difficult spot."
"The mentality and the atmosphere has changed" here, said Michelle Knapp, a resident and vocal opponent of the ordinance, sitting at a quaint Main Street coffee shop. "It's fear."
Fremont's special election follows on the heels of a strict law recently signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer making it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
While immigration has long been the purview of the federal government, states and cities like Fremont are increasingly taking matters into their own hands in the absence of a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration policy.
"If you're having flooding, you're not going to wait for the federal government to sandbag," said Jerry Hart, a resident and lead proponent of the Fremont ordinance.
Since its founding in 1856, Fremont has been almost all white, with many residents of Swedish and German descent. Over the years, big meatpacking companies like Hormel Foods moved to town as the industry was consolidating and being pushed from urban centers to the rural Midwest. In the 1990s, the area's Hispanic population began to grow.
Today, about 1,100 immigrants, including some who lack proper documentation, call Fremont home, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group. Manicured lawns, lilac bushes and restaurants like the Nifty Fifties are now punctuated by Mexican restaurants and tiny tiendas that sell yucca and plantains.
In June 2008, a now-retired city council member proposed an ordinance that would prohibit harboring, hiring or renting to undocumented immigrants. It would give local police more power to inquire into a person's immigration status.
The following month, residents packed the Fremont High School to debate the issue. In a vote the night of the debate, the city council split four-to-four on the proposal. Mayor Edwards cast the tie-breaking vote against the ordinance, saying at the time that he had consulted with the Nebraska attorney general and determined that immigration matters should remain in federal hands.
Disappointed by the outcome, proponents gathered more than 3,000 signatures to put the issue on a ballot for a special election. The city sued in state court, saying the ordinance would be unconstitutional. In April, the Nebraska Supreme Court concluded the measure should be put before voters.
Out-of-state groups have joined the fight. Kris Kobach, an attorney and law professor from Missouri, has been lending legal advice to Fremonters who want the ordinance. Mr. Kobach has also helped other small cities pass similar ordinances, and he helped write the Arizona law.
On the other side, the Nebraska affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to sue if the ordinance passes. Opponents warn that passage would lead to costly litigation the city can't afford.
After the city council vote in 2008, tensions escalated. Some started calling Fremont "Frexico" and accused immigrants of bringing gang activity and disease to town, claims that are hotly contested. Alfredo Velez, owner of Tienda Mexicana Guerrero, said somebody shot out his front window with a BB gun.
Backers of the ordinance say it will protect Fremont from becoming a "safe-haven for illegal aliens," according to a flier with an American flag being distributed across town.
Ordinance backer Edward Robinson, a farmer who lives just outside Fremont, said over a plate of enchiladas at a local Mexican restaurant that he applauds Fremont for taking action because the U.S.-Mexico border "is a portal that is so dangerous today."
Other residents, including immigrants, say the proposal would make Fremont one of America's least welcoming towns.
Earlier this week, a group of Fremont residents in a newly formed group, One Fremont One Future, gathered about 200 people in a grassy park to show their opposition to the ordinance.
The Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce recently passed a resolution opposing the proposed ordinance, saying it would impose high costs on businesses that they can ill-afford, "especially in this uncertain economy."
The city said in a fact sheet the ordinance would cost Fremont at least $1 million a year to implement and enforce. The city also said it would likely have to raise taxes and cut jobs to pay for the increases.
"It's the wrong solution," said longtime resident Don Hinds, owner of a commercial investment business in the city. It would be a "tremendous burden on landlords, city officials and the police department."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...mostcommentart
FREMONT, Neb. — Angered by a recent influx of Hispanic workers attracted by jobs at local meatpacking plants, voters in the eastern Nebraska city of Fremont will decide Monday whether to ban hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants.
The vote will be the culmination of a two-year fight that saw proponents collect enough signatures to put the question to a public vote. If the ordinance is approved, the community of 25,000 people could face a long and costly court battle. Either way, the emotions stirred up won't settle quickly.
"Even if we say 'no' ... we still need to say, 'How do we get along with each other now?'" said Kristin Ostrom, who helps oversee a campaign against the measure.
Across the nation, people have expressed anger about — and demanded action against — the poor enforcement of federal laws to prevent illegal immigration. A law recently introduced in Arizona requires police to question people on their immigration status if there's a "reasonable suspicion" they are illegal.
Fremont's Hispanic population has surged in the past two decades, boosted by recruitment to the Fremont Beef and Hormel plants, and the city maintains an enviably low unemployment rate. Nonetheless, residents worry that the jobs are going to illegal immigrants who they fear could be a drain on community resources.
Clint Walraven, who has lived in Fremont all his 51 years, said the jobs should go to legal residents who are unemployed — something he believes the ordinance would help remedy. Discussions on the issue can get heated, he said, particularly if racism is mentioned.
"It has nothing to do with being racist," he says. "We all have to play by the same rules. ... If you want to stay here, get legal."
When he worked at the Hormel plant in the 1980s, Walraven says, he had one Hispanic co-worker.
From about 165 Hispanics — both legal and illegal — living in Fremont in 1990, the total surged to 1,085 in 2000, according to census expert David Drozd at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He says an estimated 2,060 Hispanics lived there last year. In May, Fremont recorded just 4.9 percent unemployment, in line with the statewide rate and significantly lower than the national average of 9.7 percent.
If approved, the measure will require potential renters to apply for a license to rent. The application process will force Fremont officials to check if the renters are in the country legally. If they are found to be illegal, they will not be issued a license allowing them to rent.
The ordinance would also require businesses to check employees against the federal E-Verify database to ensure they are allowed to work.
Supporters of the proposal say it's needed to make up for what they see as lax enforcement by federal officials. Opponents say it could fuel discrimination.
Results are expected Monday night.
Ron Tillery, executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the measure, said businesses are concerned that the E-Verify system isn't reliable and that they would be subject to fines if forced to rely on it. He pointed out that the main targets of the ordinance — the Fremont Beef and Hormel plants — would not be covered by it anyway because they are located outside the city.
Walraven says the measure is necessary because workers send their salaries to family in Mexico instead of spending it in the city. He said Hispanic workers stand in line out the door at the post office, waiting to send off envelopes of cash.
"I understand supporting your family," he said, "But it's very much at our expense. We're footing the bill."
Those costs include spending on education and medical care, said Jerry Hart, a Fremont resident who petitioned for the vote. He said the ordinance would help curb that spending and protect jobs for legal residents.
He said it would also end the divisiveness that's taken over the community.
"The division is because the illegal aliens are here and nobody's taken care of it," he said. "If it does not pass, it's going to get worse."
The Fremont Tribune has reported several instances of legal Hispanic residents being told to return to Mexico, including a woman who was shoved and yelled at by an elderly white man in a grocery store.
Hart says he's been called a Nazi.
"Fear is kind of guiding," says Ostrom, adding that frustration about immigration issues nationwide ignites a misconception that all Hispanic immigrants in Fremont are illegal.
Sandra Leffler, 69, who owns a downtown antique store with her husband, Marv, says she knows not all Hispanics are illegal immigrants, but that it's hard not to think that way. She says she keeps an eye on Hispanic customers.
"I have to admit, when I see them come into the store ... I can't help wondering if I'm profiling someone who's completely honest," she said.
The Fremont City Council narrowly rejected a policy similar to the proposed ordinance in 2008, but proponents got it to a public vote and the state Supreme Court refused to block it.
The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has already threatened a lawsuit, and the city is worried about the cost of defending the policy. In a fact sheet posted on its website, the city estimated the legal action would cost $1 million per year to fight — costs that would have to be covered by property tax raises and city job cuts.
Kobach, who has been involved in legal battles over local ordinances elsewhere, as well as the Arizona law, said Valley Park, Mo. paid between $250,000 and $300,000 in legal fees in a similar case. Valley Park, like Fremont, is covered by the 8th Circuit.
State Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont, who has said he may introduce an Arizona-style bill in the Legislature next session, said it's unfortunate residents have to decide how to vote amid threats of a lawsuit.
He has declined to give his position on the ordinance, saying residents need to decide on their own how to vote.
"A vote for or against the ordinance does not make you more or less patriotic," he said in a posting on his legislative blog. "Just as a vote for or against the ordinance does not make you racist or not."
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