Voters in Fremont, Neb., have approved a controversial city ordinance that will effectively prevent illegal immigrants from settling or working in the city.
About 57 percent of those who showed up at the polls in the city of 25,000 voted in favor of the ordinance, which the Fremont city council had rejected by a 5-4 vote last year.
The ordinance approved by the voters will require anyone renting an apartment in the city to obtain an occupancy license from the city, which will check the immigration status of applicants during the approval process. The ordinance also requires employers in the city to check job applicants against the federal E-Verify database to determine their immigration status.
Opponents of the Fremont immigration ordinance said it would send a signal to Hispanics that they were not welcome in Fremont, a meatpacking center 30 miles west of Omaha. The city's Hispanic population, while still small, has grown dramatically in recent years, rising from zero to about 2,000 in 20 years' time. Supporters of the ordinance claimed that illegal immigrants were causing crime, taking jobs that would otherwise go to natives, and changing the character of the city for the worse, a fate they say other small Nebraska cities have already suffered.
The Nebraska chapter of the ACLU announced that it would file a lawsuit challenging the ordinance's legality shortly after its passage was announced. Some observers noted that the ordinance might not work as intended, for it does not apply to the city's largest employer, a Hormel meatpacking plant located just outside the city limits. Nor does the ordinance bar the hiring of illegals for casual labor or domestic work in Fremont homes.
Written by Sandy Smith
For HULIQ.com
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