Local state government measures on illegal immigration appear to have spread from Arizona to Freemont, Nebraska, a small city close to Omaha. The voters of Fremont joined the fray over US immigration reform by passing an ordinance to crack down on illegal immigration.
The ordinance, which bans illegal immigrants from holding a job or renting a place, was supported on Monday by the majority of voters in the city of 25,000. Approximately 57 percent of the voters in Freemont, Nebraska voted ‘Yes’ on proposition 5165, winning against 42.6 percent of those who cast their vote against it.
“It is with great disappointment and sadness that tonight we acknowledge a majority of Fremont voters approving this misguided ordinance, stated One Freemont – One Future, a local organization.
The group decried the ordinance, saying that “the outcome does not reflect the opinion of the entire community,” and said that local and state governments should not take the immigration reform into their hands. The organization also said that it is the role of the federal government to enforce immigration laws and to work towards comprehensive immigration reform.
The recent ordinance could make Fremont - a city known for its meat-processing factories - the latest battlefield of the nationwide spar over immigration. The measure was passed at a time when the federal government is building a case against another state measure against illegal immigration - the controversial Arizona immigration law.
The Arizona immigration law, which goes into effect in July, will be one of the toughest measures against illegal immigrants on record, and would require residents in the state to show their immigration papers if stopped by police. A lack of immigration papers would be considered a crime.
Despite a critical commentary from President Obama about the law, a recent Gallup polls showed that President Obama’s job approval rating among Latinos is down this year. Obama has been under fire by leaders of the Latino community for not doing enough to fulfill his campaign promise of making comprehensive immigration reform a top priority and to fix a broken immigration system.
With 9.7 percent average unemployment in the US, which translates into 15 million unemployed, some experts see the fast growing number of immigrants, including the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, as a negative factor affecting citizen’s employment.
Similar measures against illegal immigration were also voted on in the past in other states, such as Pennsylvania and Texas, but were defeated by the federal government in the courts.
Federal laws are the highest laws in the American legal system, and all state courts and state judges are required to uphold them.
The ordinance, which bans illegal immigrants from holding a job or renting a place, was supported on Monday by the majority of voters in the city of 25,000. Approximately 57 percent of the voters in Freemont, Nebraska voted ‘Yes’ on proposition 5165, winning against 42.6 percent of those who cast their vote against it.
“It is with great disappointment and sadness that tonight we acknowledge a majority of Fremont voters approving this misguided ordinance, stated One Freemont – One Future, a local organization.
The group decried the ordinance, saying that “the outcome does not reflect the opinion of the entire community,” and said that local and state governments should not take the immigration reform into their hands. The organization also said that it is the role of the federal government to enforce immigration laws and to work towards comprehensive immigration reform.
The recent ordinance could make Fremont - a city known for its meat-processing factories - the latest battlefield of the nationwide spar over immigration. The measure was passed at a time when the federal government is building a case against another state measure against illegal immigration - the controversial Arizona immigration law.
The Arizona immigration law, which goes into effect in July, will be one of the toughest measures against illegal immigrants on record, and would require residents in the state to show their immigration papers if stopped by police. A lack of immigration papers would be considered a crime.
Despite a critical commentary from President Obama about the law, a recent Gallup polls showed that President Obama’s job approval rating among Latinos is down this year. Obama has been under fire by leaders of the Latino community for not doing enough to fulfill his campaign promise of making comprehensive immigration reform a top priority and to fix a broken immigration system.
With 9.7 percent average unemployment in the US, which translates into 15 million unemployed, some experts see the fast growing number of immigrants, including the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here, as a negative factor affecting citizen’s employment.
Similar measures against illegal immigration were also voted on in the past in other states, such as Pennsylvania and Texas, but were defeated by the federal government in the courts.
Federal laws are the highest laws in the American legal system, and all state courts and state judges are required to uphold them.
