LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two years after voters in Fremont approved a controversial immigration ordinance, the rule remains mired in court and residents are still split about whether it addresses a serious problem or needlessly tarnishes the city’s image.
Voters in the eastern Nebraska city of 26,000 easily approved the measure, which banned hiring or renting to illegal immigrants and required businesses to use federal E-Verify software to confirm that potential employees were not illegal immigrants.
But court challenges have limited its implementation and opponents haven’t softened their views on the measure.
Luis Canahui, a native of Guatemala who’s lived in Fremont for more than a decade, said he was surprised the “racist and discriminatory” law hasn’t prompted more Hispanic families to leave town. Canahui, the founder of the group Un Fremont Con Dignidad (One Fremont with Dignity), said he fears that many will move if the rental requirements are upheld in court.
“The ordinance election two years ago demonstrated that we are a town divided, and that continues to be true,” Canahui said. “The demographic impact — families leaving because of the ordinance — has not been as widespread as we thought that it might be.”
Supporters of the ordinance gathered petition signatures and placed the measure on the June 21, 2010, ballot, saying they feared local jobs were going to illegal immigrants and that local action was needed due to what they saw as lax federal enforcement of immigration policies.
The proposal came after years of rapid growth in Fremont’s Hispanic population, which climbed from 165 in 1990 to 3,149 in 2010, largely due to the availability of jobs at two nearby meatpacking plants. It’s unclear how many of those residents are illegal immigrants.
The ACLU Nebraska Foundation, along with several U.S.-born Latino home renters and a Fremont landlord, challenged the ordinance in federal court. In February, the judge approved the requirement that businesses use the E-verify software to screen job applicants but rejected the one that would deny city-issued housing permits to illegal immigrants, saying it was discriminatory and interfered with federal law.
The ACLU and the city are both appealing the decision, with the city pushing to have the entire ordinance upheld and the civil liberties group seeking to have the rest of the law dismissed.
“It’s still an undercurrent in the community,” said Steven Dahl, a Fremont landlord and bakery store owner who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Everybody’s pretty tired of it. We’re just waiting now for what will happen in the courts.”
Supporters of the ordinance also expressed frustration that after two years, only the E-Verify requirement has taken effect.
“I figured, yeah, it would take a little while, but not this long,” said John Wiegert, a fifth-grade teacher who helped lead the petition drive.
Although the E-Verify requirement has been implemented, Fremont Mayor Scott Getzschman said no businesses found that an illegal immigrant had applied for a job.
Wiegert said he hopes that surrounding Dodge County will implement a similar E-Verify requirement, since two meatpacking plants just outside the city limits aren’t bound by Fremont’s rules.
Spokesmen for those companies, however, note that they already use E-Verify.
City officials estimate it will cost $450,000 in the first year to put the new regulations in place, because the city will have to develop new forms. The city also added a secretary to check business records and make sure they are complying.
The city has spent $94,000 defending the ordinance in court, and lawyers for opponents have asked the judge to order the city to pay fees of more than $1 million.
Ron Tillery, president of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce, said many of the city’s roughly 3,000 companies already were using E-Verify, but the ordinance has been a headache for some business owners who weren’t familiar with the free software. That can take three or four hours, Tillery said.
“By and large, businesses are incorporating it into their daily routine,” Tillery said. “But it remains a topic of conversation. It’s an issue people around town talk and wonder about. And, in some cases, there are very strong opinions.”
Tillery said he’s disappointed that the immigration debate has distracted attention from Fremont’s efforts to recruit new businesses, including a high-end organic pet food maker and a high-tech data park that the city is marketing to technology companies.
Residents said it doesn’t seem the ordinance has prompted immigrants to leave the area.
Population changes in Fremont since voters approved the ordinance aren’t available, but Dodge County’s Hispanic population has increased a little more than 2 percent annually since 2010, according to the University of Nebraska’s Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s far slower than in past year but likely reflects a national slowing in Hispanic immigration due to the sluggish economy, said David Drozd, the center’s research coordinator.
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