Immigrants in the U.S. News: Anti-Immigrant Law in Nebraska Might be Emulated in Other States

On Monday, May 5, a controversial ruling of the United States Supreme Court in which it refused to revise the legal case against the city of Fremont, Nebraska, made it illegal to rent houses to undocumented immigrants, but specialists have said that this decision would allow other cities inside the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to apply similar regulations.

Besides the possibility for states registered in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and both Dakotas) to apply this law, a perhaps even bigger worry is that the Supreme Court's ruling has opened a door for other similar local laws to persevere.

According to Los Angeles Times, since April 10, residents of the city of Fremont who don't have legal documents must pay a $5 permit to the city and swear that they do not have permission to live in the United States legally.

A few months ago, judges refused to listen to the appeals of the cities of Hazleton, Pennsylvania and Farmers Branch, Texas, in a series of similar rulings, but in these decisions, inferior court denied the legality of said laws, while in Fremont's case the opposite happened.

This is why defenders of immigrants' rights and other organizations have said that this ruling will have serious social and legal consequences in Fremont.

Thomas Sáenz, president and general councilor of the Mexican-American Legal and Education Defense Fund said that this ruling "will destroy human relations", and warned that "It would be imprudent for (any) other city to carry out a law like this one," according to Los Angeles Times.

Originally approved in 2010, this law has survived many legal fight and an attempt to repeal it in a vote last February, however, the Supreme Court's ruling ratified and gave legality to this measure last Monday.

"This is a complete and final victory for Fremong. Without a doubt all cities of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals have the capacity to adopt this ruling word for word," said Kris Kobach, a lawyer defending the city of Fremont, reported Fox News.