I'm Moving to Texas - Enforcing Immigration Laws in TX !

I'm Moving to Texas - Enforcing Immigration Laws in TX !
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Life

Illegal Immigrant Ordinance To Be Bilingual
Category: News and Politics

Illegal Immigrant Ordinance To Be Bilingual
Proposed Ordinance Garners Criticism

POSTED: 3:43 pm CDT March 17, 2007
UPDATED: 3:46 pm CDT March 17, 2007

http://www.click2houston.com/news/11281412/detail.html

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas -- To comply with state law, ballots and election materials related to an anti-illegal immigrant ordinance going to Farmers Branch voters May 12 will be printed in English and Spanish.

The controversial ordinance would require apartment landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants.

In November, council members also approved resolutions making English the city's official language and allowing local authorities to become part of a federal program so they can enforce immigration laws.

Ordinance supporter Tom Bohmier said he doesn't see any irony in printing ballots in Spanish.

"If I was a typical red-blooded American, I'd say a requirement to become a citizen here is to be able to read and speak English," he said. "But the fact is, we're dealt those cards from a higher level. It is what it is."

Bruce Sherbet, the Dallas County elections administrator, said every election requires ballots in Spanish and English, a requirement since 1975.

Some areas in Texas also have had to print election-related items in Vietnamese, Pueblo and Kickapoo languages, according to the secretary of state's Web site.

Farmers Branch has been sued by civil rights groups, residents, property owners and business people challenging the rental ordinance. Opponents of the ordinance also submitted a petition that forced the citywide vote on the issue, a move allowed under the city's charter.

Farmers Branch in suburban Dallas has changed from a small, predominantly white bedroom community with a declining population in the 1970s to a city of almost 28,000 people, about 37 percent of them Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census. It also is home to more than 80 corporate headquarters and more than 2,600 small and mid-size firms, many of them minority-owned.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.