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The city of Fremont and residents are skirmishing over an proposed ordinance that could bar illegal immigrants from living and working in the city. The city wants a district judge to rule that voters cannot enact such an ordinance. After a citizen’s petition drive, an ordinance can be put to a vote, but City Attorney Dean Skokan has asked the Dodge County District Court to rule that allowing a special election for the proposed ordinance would violate the U.S. Constitution. Fremont has been the center of a controversy since last year when the city council rejected an ordinance aimed at banning the hiring, harboring or renting of housing to any illegal immigrants within the city. The petition drive for the special election began last September and at first view gathered sufficient signatures. In its request for a declaratory judgment, the city said such an ordinance cannot be enacted because: -- The ordinance would violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is pre-empted by federal law. -- The ordinance doesn't provide sufficient substantive and procedural due process safeguards. -- It would violate the federal Fair Housing Act and lead to federal and state claims of violations of the act.
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