Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

 A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Farmers Branch ordinance designed to block apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants.

And he minced no words in refusing to green-light a later ordinance the city's attorneys had tailored to overcome legal issues related to the first.

"The court has already held, at least as a preliminary matter, that five different versions of the [previous] ordinance violate the United States Constitution," U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay wrote. "The new ordinance is yet another attempt to circumvent the court's prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution."

But Judge Lindsay did not rule against the newer ordinance. Instead, he said the city had "put the cart before the horse" in asking for an opinion on the measure when it has drawn no federal court challenge.

That, however, may be about to change.

Once Judge Lindsay issues his final judgment – which an attorney for the city said would incorporate all of his rulings in the lawsuit against the original ordinance – the city will begin a 15-day countdown to enactment of the newer measure.

And Bill Brewer, who represents some of the plaintiffs in the suit over the earlier measure, said Wednesday that if the city tries to implement the newer version, he will challenge it, too.

Newly elected Mayor Tim O'Hare, who as a City Council member has led the city's efforts to drive out illegal immigrants, said he expects Judge Lindsay to block the newer measure as well.

"Then we would have two ordinances with which we can appeal to the 5th Circuit," Mr. O'Hare said. "We're confident in the end that we're going to prevail."

Judge Lindsay issued his permanent injunction barring implementation of the earlier measure, Ordinance 2903, a little more than a year after Farmers Branch voters approved it 2-to-1.

"The people's will, and people's decisions, and people's wishes once again get ignored and overturned," City Council member David Koch said.

Judge Lindsay said in his ruling that he was aware of the widespread support for Ordinance 2903, and he recognized citizens' frustration over federal failure to enforce immigration laws. But he said the court must decide whether the law passes constitutional muster.

"This is not the first time – nor will it be the last – that a court has held a politically popular ordinance to be unconstitutional," the judge wrote.

Mr. Brewer said, "Clearly, if we are not gaining popularity for our view, at least we are gaining credibility."

Ordinance 2903 would have required apartment managers or owners to obtain and maintain evidence that tenants are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Opponents argued that it would saddle apartment personnel with the duties of immigration officers, unfairly burdening them with deciding who was eligible to rent.

The City Council adopted the newer measure, Ordinance 2952, in January. It would require prospective renters to pay $5 and declare their citizenship or legal U.S. residency to obtain a license to rent a house or apartment. Landlords could rent to anyone with a license, but the city would check the tenants' information against a federal database to confirm their legal status.

Judge Lindsay's decision against Ordinance 2903 came in a summary judgment – without allowing the case to go to trial.

He wrote that only the federal government may determine whether someone is in the country legally. And he said the city, rather than deferring to the federal government's determination of immigration status, had created its own classification scheme for determining which noncitizens could rent apartments.

"Because Farmers Branch has attempted to regulate immigration differently from the federal government, the ordinance is preempted by the supremacy clause" of the Constitution, Judge Lindsay said.

He said numerous city proposals to revise the law failed because they would have required the court to essentially redraft the measure, which is not the court's job.

Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, which is one of the parties in the case, hailed the ruling.

"It's a very clear victory for those of us who said from the beginning there are other more constitutional solutions to the problems that Farmers Branch identified and that these solutions so far are not only impractical, not only implausible, but clearly unconstitutional."

Michael Jung of Strasburger & Price, the law firm representing the city, expressed hope that Ordinance 2952 would ultimately withstand legal challenges.

"The legal problems ... [Judge Lindsay] identifies with Ordinance 2903 have been addressed and we believe resolved in Ordinance 2952," Mr. Jung said.

At the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that wants more immigration restrictions, spokesman Ira Mehlman noted that tough laws have been upheld in Arizona and Oklahoma.

"There are a lot of conflicting legal opinions floating out there," he said, "and obviously, at some point, they are going to have to be bundled up by a higher court. Our view is that all these will be upheld."

Staff writer Dianne Solís contributed to this report.