Newspaper Article

Champion of Immigrants Seeks Office
Associated Press
March 9, 2009

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas — An outspoken critic of Farmers Branch officials' attempts to oust illegal immigrants announced Monday she is running for a spot on the city council of the Dallas suburb.

If elected, business owner and activist Elizabeth Villafranca, 45, would become the first Hispanic council member of a city where about 47 percent of residents are Latino. She also would be the only woman in several years to serve on the council.

Villafranca, who has opposed city efforts to prohibit immigrants from renting homes and the costly legal fight to enforce such rules, is seeking the spot being vacated this year by Jim Smith.

The California-born daughter of Mexican immigrants, said she got involved in the issue partly because it was a lesson to her daughter, Natalie, whom she homeschools.

"All of this started off as a civics lesson, but I never thought this would be the civics lesson of my entire life," said Villafranca, who with her husband Enrique owns Cuquita's, a Mexican food restaurant in Farmers Branch.

But Villafranca also pointed out that if elected, current city policies targeting illegal immigrants would remain in the courts.

"This is not about immigration. That is not the business of Farmers Branch," she said. "That is out of our hands."

Farmers Branch has faced several state and federal lawsuits in its more than two-year fight to enforce measures aimed at keeping illegal immigrants from living in the city. The city has legal fees surpassing a million dollars and must pay for the attorney fees of their opponents after a federal judge ruled one of their previous immigration-related rules unconstitutional.

The latest ordinance version would require prospective tenants of houses or apartments to get rental licenses. The city building inspector would verify with the federal government whether those who are not U.S. citizens have a legal presence in the country. Anyone deemed an illegal immigrant would be banned from leasing in the city. The ordinance remains tied up in a legal challenge and cannot be enforced.

Around the country, some 100 cities or counties have considered, passed or rejected similar laws, but Farmers Branch was the first in Texas, according to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which tracks the data.