FARMERS BRANCH — A day before it was set to go into force, a state judge blocked an ordinance barring landlords from renting apartments to illegal immigrants.

Although the controversial measure is on hold, its passage already appears to have had a significant impact in this suburb of 27,000 on Dallas' northern edge.

Stores, restaurants, apartments and other businesses catering primarily to Hispanics say business is down 20 percent to 50 percent since Nov. 13, when the City Council unanimously passed the rental rule as well as a resolution making English the city's official language.

"The big problem is people are scared," said Jesus Aguilar, a maintenance man at the Villa Creek and London Villa apartments. "They don't want to drive that way (into the city). They think maybe immigration (agents) will come here and look in all the apartments. They don't want any problems, so they leave."

Added manager Mary Salinas, "We tell our tenants that isn't going to happen, but they don't believe us."

On Thursday, state District Judge Bruce Priddy issued a temporary restraining order in one of three lawsuits challenging the new leasing rule.

Priddy set a hearing for Jan. 22 to determine whether a temporary injunction should be put in place pending trial in a case filed on behalf of a resident who claims the city violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when it enacted the measure.

"This was not unexpected," said City Councilman Tim O'Hare, author of the leasing rule. "I respect Judge Priddy's wisdom and hope he will acknowledge the will of Farmers Branch, which overwhelmingly supports that ordinance that was passed."

Andrew Mongeon doesn't.

He bought the Villa Creek and London Villa complexes at the edge of Interstate 635 at a bankruptcy auction 17 years ago and said about 30 families, roughly 20 percent of his tenants, have moved out as a result of the ordinance.

"I had two families here who worked at the bakery shop in town here. They liked their jobs. They quit and moved out of their apartments," said Mongeon, a plaintiff in a federal suit filed against the city last month.

Making matters worse for Mongeon, his competitors, just across the freeway in Dallas or in nearby Carrollton, are targeting his tenants with fliers. "No papers, no problem!" one ad promises in Spanish. "Here we value our residents tremendously," reads another.

Mongeon said he talks with longtime Anglo residents in the city all the time, particularly senior citizens. "They don't like Mexicans," he said. "Not everybody thinks that way, but enough do to give us this."

'Really empty now'

At Valley View Farm, a grocery selling fresh produce, owner Su You said the city's central shopping area is surrounded by apartments and nearly 90 percent of her customers are Hispanic.

"Just after this passed everyone was talking about moving and getting a new apartment," she said. "This area is really empty now."

You said her receipts are down by half, and she will close if the trend continues.

Owners of a coin laundromat and a Mexican restaurant in the same shopping area agreed.

"They're not just illegal people going away, they're legal, people who speak English and have documents, but they feel affected by what's going on. They aren't going to come to Farmers Branch," said Patricia Lynn, who opened the Taqueria Las Regias restaurant in August.

Lynn said her business fell off 40 percent in the two months since the ordinance passed. "To make Farmers Branch a better city they ought to try to attract people, not make them scared and chase them away."

Support for measure

As of November, the last month for which he has figures, sales tax collections were up in the city, he said.

"If illegal aliens are leaving that is exactly what we want," he said. As for the economic effect on apartments and other businesses, "it's going to get worse before it gets better, but in the long run it's going to benefit our city."

He said news accounts have tended to cast the city's stance in an unfavorable light, but "for every story we get like that we get people calling to back us up and applaud what we're doing. They say they're moving to Farmers Branch."

Tom Bohmier, who leads Support Farmers Branch, a citizens group that formed in the fall to support the city's push against illegal immigration, said there is nothing in the new ordinance that would force anyone to leave the city.

"It only affects people signing new leases," said Bohmier, who called any suggestion that the push is fueled by ethnic bias "hogwash." "We're going after illegal immigration. The message is we are trying to slow down the degradation of our city."

Ballot reluctance

Opponents of the rental measure were divided on forcing a vote. Hispanics make up nearly 40 percent of the city's population, but most are not citizens and cannot vote, according to Carlos Quintanilla, an activist and ordinance opponent.

Less than 10 percent of the city's registered voters are Hispanic, he said. "I think it's going to be a massacre."

O'Hare agreed. "This is often reported as an immigration debate going on in Farmers Branch. There isn't a debate. Ninety percent of the people who vote support what we're doing."