Attempts to Curb Illegal Immigration Prove Costly

Lawsuits Threaten to Break Budgets of Communities That Apply Housing, Employment Restrictions

FARMERS BRANCH, Tex. -- As cities across the United States spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against lawsuits and other challenges to their ordinances enacted to keep out illegal immigrants, some groups are warning that their communities are risking financial disaster.

Dozens of cities and counties have proposed or passed laws that prohibit landlords from leasing to illegal immigrants, penalize businesses that employ undocumented workers or train police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Approval of these ordinances has generated criticism, demonstrations and lawsuits in Valley Park, Mo.; Riverside, N.J.; Escondido, Calif.; Hazleton, Pa., and the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch.

Escondido abandoned an ordinance that would punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants after it discovered the legal bills could top $1 million. By the time the City Council agreed in December to settle a lawsuit challenging the ordinance, Escondido had spent $200,000, spokeswoman Joyce Masterson said.

In some instances, taxpayer money has been used to hire private attorneys to fight legal challenges. In others, private donations or insurance have offset part of the costs.

The city paying perhaps the biggest price for its entry into the immigration debate is Farmers Branch, which last fall became the first in Texas to ban landlords from renting apartments to illegal immigrants. Almost immediately, civil rights groups, residents, property owners and businesses filed four separate lawsuits challenging the ordinance.

Documents show the city paid the Irving, Tex.-based law firm of Boyle and Lowry almost $262,000 in fees related to the cases, mostly with taxpayer money, through March.

Council members last month increased the city's legal budget to $444,000.

"I have heard people say we can't afford it. That's not true," said Tim O'Hare, the Farmers Branch councilman who led efforts to adopt the ordinance. "I have heard people say it costs the taxpayer, and it does. But the costs of having illegal immigrants living in the city are more."

A judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from enforcing the ordinance.

Opponents also submitted a petition with enough signatures to force a citywide vote Saturday on whether to rescind the ordinance.

The former city leaders behind the measure say Farmers Branch and its 28,000 residents could end up spending millions of dollars defending the ordinance at trial.