Court stops Dallas suburb's immigrant renters law

DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas suburb can't enforce a law that bans immigrants in the United States without legal permission from renting apartments, a federal appeals court said Monday. It's the latest ruling on a series of laws that local governments have passed targeting immigration.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Farmers Branch ordinance encroached on authority that belongs to the federal government, and called multiple parts of it unconstitutional. The appeals court relied heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year that struck down parts of Arizona's immigration law.

"We conclude that enforcement of the ordinance conflicts with federal law," the opinion said.

The suburb's law would have required all renters to obtain licenses. The city's building inspector would check an immigrant's status and deny licenses to anyone in the country without permission, and landlords who allowed immigrants without permits would have faced fines or revocations of their renters' licenses.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/court-stops-dallas-suburbs-immigrant-renters-law