Small Nebraskan City bans Illegal Immigrants from renting homes.
On February 12, 2014 residents of a small Nebraskan city voted to keep a measure, put place in 2010, which bans illegal immigrants from renting homes. The small city has been considered controversial for having voted for the ban in 2010 and even more so now that 60% of its residents have, once again, voted in favor of the ban. It must be noted that the number of residents in favor of the ban has gone up by 3% since it was originally instated, making the matter much more worrisome for illegal immigrants. The controversial measure prevents landlords from renting to any illegal immigrants. In fact in order, for any one to rent a home they must now apply for a permit from the police and prove that they are legally residing in the United States.
This measure is incredible detrimental to all of those hard-working families and sole individuals who have emigrated from their countries in hopes of a better life and even in some cases of asylum. Nebraska, which has proven to be one of the states enjoying a fair amount of economic health, has become increasingly menacing towards illegal immigrants over the years. Perhaps as a New Yorker and daughter of an immigrant mother, it seems outrages to see that immigrants, especially Hispanics could have their life dynamics go asunder. That is, many of the legal immigrants living not only in Nebraska but in most states have started of their lives as illegal immigrants and eventually gone on to become residents and even citizens. Thus, by passing bans such as this one, illegal immigrants’ chances of survival and perseverance are quickly diminishing.
Thank you, Sara! Do you have a link to the article? When did this happen? Was it contested in the courts?
Many anti-immigrant measures are being passed on the local level across the country on the local level. We don’t even have to go as far as Nebraska. There are examples in Long Island and Pennsylvania.
New York City, on the other hand, is considered more of a sanctuary city, in that it attempts to protect its undocumented population as much as possible given that its hands are mostly tied by the federal government. For examples of pro-immigrant local measures, check out this: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2013/12/20-immigration-reform-states-cities-svajlenka-wilson-singer
It happened on february 12th, here’s the nyt link : http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/us/nebraska-city-votes-to-keep-rule-aimed-at-illegal-immigrants.html… i also forgot to mention that nebraska has also taken more detrimental actions like ban illegal immigrants from even working at all, which makes survival even harder for them. That is, if they are ever found working or such not only would they be in trouble but also those who have provided them with jobs.
Unfortunately governmental policy – on the state of federal level – is not always dictated by knowledge. As Emily’s previous post informed us, immigrants are good for a countries economy. I am sure there is some displacement of non-immigrant worker’s jobs but this is to be expected. I think there is this idea that an economy has a finite amount of money and jobs. While this is true in a moment-to-moment sense, the addition of new members to an economy does not simply transfer the benefits from the original non-immigrant to the new immigrant classes. Instead both groups should see an increase in wealth since they are both adding to the GDP, thus increasing the size of the economy for everyone.
Even still, Nebraska does have the right to pass this law. I do not believe in intervention, rather I think an entity knows what is best for itself. So while I feel bad for the illegal immigrants and their strife in Nebraska, I would suggest they relocate themselves to somewhere more in-line with their needs – like New York. While this may not be the ideal system, it is a crude solution to an old problem.