Anti-immigrant hostility fuels discriminatory housing laws, officials say

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WASHINGTON — Federal housing officials and civil rights groups are challenging city and town ordinances they say discriminate against minorities, particularly Hispanics.

Some of the laws reflect the impact of illegal immigrants on communities where they're blamed for overcrowding, crime and strains on local budgets, the laws' supporters say.

"The illegal population has become more diffuse, so some communities have more of a stake in it," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates reduced immigration. "There is deep public dissatisfaction with the status quo."

But civil rights groups say local housing ordinances are not the proper way to enforce immigration laws.

"People think the federal government is not doing its job of enforcing immigration," said Kristina Campbell, a lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). "True or not, you can't deny a whole class of people the ability to live in your town because you don't think they have legal status."

At least 41 state legislatures have passed 170 housing and other laws targeting illegal immigrants this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. About 100 communities have proposed similar ordinances.

Local housing laws that have been challenged for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act include:

• A law adopted last year by the city of Hazleton, Pa., to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. The law was copied by other towns and cities across the country.

A federal judge stuck down the law in July. Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta has vowed to appeal.

"We have the right to regulate licenses and permits," Barletta said. "The federal government has failed in enforcing immigration law. We could no longer wait for Washington to act."

• An ordinance in Farmers Branch, Texas, requiring landlords of apartment complexes to verify that prospective tenants are in the country legally. MALDEF and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the measure.

The ordinance "illegally puts landlords in the untenable situation of serving as federal law enforcement agents," MALDEF officials said.

In June, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping the city from enforcing the ordinance until a trial, possibly early next year.

Farmers Branch city council member Tim O'Hare, who led the fight for the ordinance, has said he acted because he believes illegal immigrants have damaged the town's quality of life.

• An ordinance passed by St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana last year banning owners of many single-family homes from renting to nonrelatives.

Backers of the ordinance said it was designed to protect home values by preventing investors from buying damaged homes and then renting them out.

But fair housing groups said the measure was aimed at preventing minorities from living in the overwhelmingly white parish.

Parish officials repealed the ordinance in December under pressure from the fair housing groups.

• An ordinance in Manassas, Va., that limited the number of unrelated people who could live in a house. City officials said the measure was necessary to address overcrowding.

Private housing groups and Housing and Urban Development officials said the city appeared to be enforcing the ordinance only against Hispanics and threatened to sue. The city later repealed the ordinance.

Federal Justice officials are weighing whether to take Manassas to court for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act.

"When you're enforcing those provisions, you must do it uniformly to all people," said Kim Kendrick, assistant secretary for HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

She noted that anyone looking for a home, even people in the country illegally, "still have the protections of the Fair Housing Act."

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