Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Virginia Xenophobic Wingnuts Take Heed
That's right, Virginia wingnuts, before you go around legislating racist immigration laws and policies in this jurisdiction or that one, better read up on your Constitution and check your wallets to see how much $$$ you're ready to pony-up for the cause.
Because you see, courts will make you pay for your bigotry.
In a recent news article, The Star-Ledger reports that a "three-year legal struggle with its day laborer population" in Freehold Borough, New Jersey ended up costing taxpayers some serious $$$$.
The settlement, which still has to be approved by a federal judge, requires the county seat of Monmouth to shell out $278,000 in attorney fees and reimbursement funds and establishes a police protocol for enforcing certain regulations against immigrants.In other words, don't get cute with your housing code laws; and don't violate privacy laws by illegally releasing confidential school records of immigrant children to folks like city zoning inspectors.
It appears that a filed legal complaint as well as federal data support both of these allegations against the Republican-red city of Manassas. In June, 2006, the Washington Post reported:
What an incredible koinkidink!Federal housing officials have released the details of their discrimination complaint against Manassas, providing hard numbers supporting allegations that the city's two-year-old campaign against crowded housing has illegally targeted Hispanic families.
The federal investigation focused on the centerpiece of the campaign: the overcrowding hotline," set up in April 2004, that allows residents to complain anonymously about neighbors they suspect of violating city ordinances. At least 342 complaints have been made to the hotline so far.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which began its investigation in January, examined calls to the hotline between July 1, 2004, and Feb. 3, 2006. Investigators found that more than half of those hotline complaints -- 182 -- turned up no violations. Of that number, about 62 percent involved homeowners with what investigators called Hispanic surnames, 4 percent with Middle Eastern surnames and 3 percent with Asian surnames, according to the complaint.
[...]
Federal officials noted that the city said it "voided" 15 complaints to the hotline. About 10 of those complaints were against people with "Anglo surnames," HUD said.
"The numbers tell the story," HUD spokesman Jereon Brown said.
Although Hispanics make up about 14 percent of Manassas's population, more than 60 percent of hotline complaints were against them.
And here's the latest news from a Washington Post article in early November. Manassas taxpayers, get ready for the high cost of your city's racist policies.
Hell, that never stopped a rabid wingnut before and yet...federal law under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits schools to disclose students records to ANYONE without explicit parental permission.New accusations were made against the City of Manassas over its "anti-crowding" efforts, as four Hispanic families filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education last week alleging that school officials illegally turned over their children's records to city zoning inspectors without parental notification.
The complaints raise the possibility of more costly litigation for the city in defense of its attempts to curb the number of residents who can share a dwelling through stricter enforcement of its zoning laws. Manassas is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly discriminating.
"None of the parents were aware that the city was secretly filing overcrowding complaints based on information in the children's student record," Kahn said. "It's very ugly. And it's very illegal."
Oops...
