Nebraska town bars illegal immigrants from jobs and renting property

Fremont in Nebraska has passed laws meaning illegal immigrants cannot work or rent property within its boundaries

• Ed Pilkington in New York
• guardian.co.uk,
• Tuesday 22 June 2010 19.18 BST
• Article history

A home-made sign urges people to back a ban on giving jobs or renting property to illegal immigrants in Fremont, Nebraska. Photograph: Dave Weaver/AP

A small town in the pig-farming and cattle rearing great plains of Nebraska has opened the latest frontline in the battle over immigration by voting effectively to banish all illegal immigrants.

Under ordinance 5165, which passed in a special election yesterday, undocumented immigrants in Fremont will lose the right to rent homes and take up jobs. A new system of licences for property and business will be introduced to catch out those without proper resident status.

The measure was passed on a turn-out of 45% of the population, with 3,906 in favour and 2,908 against.

Fremont has relatively few immigrants: in a 2008 census, 4.4% of its 25,000 population were recorded as foreign born, compared with the national figure of 12.6%. Most are Hispanics.

The text of the proposal the town voted on. Link to this interactive

Those in favour of the ban argued that lack of action by the federal government meant the community had to act on its own. Scott Getzschman, a local councillor, told the Fremont Tribune: "People are fed up with the fact that the federal government will not take this issue head on."

Opponents said that voters had been influenced by a mood of hostility towards immigrants that was sweeping America. Krista Kjeldgaard, a member of One Fremont – One Future, said: "Nationally, there's been a lot of hoop-la and a lot of rhetoric used over immigration. It feeds off people's fears."

In its campaigning, One Fremont warned the town that if it passed the measure it would pay heavily. Other small towns across the US that have passed similar laws, such as Hazelton in Pennsylvania and Farmers Branch in Texas, have had to spend up to $5m (£3.36m) in lawyers' fees after the new rules were thrown out as unconstitutional by the courts.

Fremont council is braced for an increase in property taxes and possible cuts in public services to cover the cost of defending the ordinance against challenges. The American Civil Liberties Union has already announced it intends to oppose the measure.

The Fremont move is just the latest in a spate of community efforts to restrict immigration, the most extreme of which is a state-wide law in Arizona that starts at the end of July requiring police to check the identification of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. The Obama administration is expected to file a lawsuit against the law next week