The City of Escondido has killed its controversial ordinance that prevents landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. In an about face, the City of Escondido has agreed to settle a lawsuit that alleges the ordinance violates the constitution and state and federal law. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
The city council agreed to settle the suit during a closed doors session Wednesday night. In addition to not enforcing the law, the settlement requires Escondido to reimburse the coalition of civil rights groups that brought the lawsuit $90,000 in attorney’s fees.
After the meeting, the city issued a written statement that said continuing with the current policy approach would be unnecessarily costly for the city and unnecessarily consume the court’s time…when other approaches could provide answers to the problems more efficiently.
ACLU executive director Kevin Keenan says Escondido wasted a lot of time and money on something they were warned was unconstitutional from the start. Keenan says the settlement should further discourage other cities from trying to take over federal immigration law. Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
