ACLU files suit to compel feds to answer 2021 request for records on Fremont, Scribner rental laws

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LINCOLN — A civil liberties group has turned to the court system to get federal authorities to comply with a public records request — filed in 2021 — seeking information about immigrant-related housing ordinances still on the books in two Nebraska cities.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday , says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a DHS agency, have violated federal law by failing to respond to its longstanding request.

The nonprofit three years ago sought records of correspondence and federal database searches related to ordinances adopted by Fremont and Scribner in 2010 and 2018, respectively.

The communities ban unauthorized immigrants from renting housing, requiring prospective renters to answer a question about immigration status and tasking local law enforcement officers with investigating.

Recently, Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg told the Nebraska Examiner that his city’s ordinance was “impossible to enforce” and said the city of 27,000 needs to “embrace the immigrant community.”

Yet the ordinance remains alive in both Fremont and Scribner, said ACLU’s legal fellow Dylan Severino. And while the ACLU has no definite or recent evidence of impact, he said concern is fueled by recent remarks by former President Donald Trump about amping up deportation efforts.

The presumptive 2024 GOP nominee for president has said that in a second term he would carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants by using local law enforcement, the National Guard and potentially the U.S. military.

Trump says he’d use police, National Guard and possibly the military to expel immigrants

Severino, who assumed his position as the ACLU Nebraska legal fellow last year, said his team has not received any communication from USCIS on its public records request since December 2021.

That’s when federal authorities acknowledged they had received clarification they had requested of the ACLU regarding the information request. It’s been “silence” ever since, said spokesman Sam Petto.

“Federal law includes clear guidelines on processing public records requests and there is no excuse for years of inaction on any request — let alone one that involves something as important as fair access to housing,” said Severino.

Moreover, he said, “Nebraskans have a right to know if and how federal officials have been involved in any efforts to enforce anti-immigrant ordinances that invite discriminatory questions and racial profiling.”

DHS and USCIS did not immediately answer a reporter’s request for a response to the lawsuit.

The housing ordinance controversy itself dates back some 15 years and led to a national spotlight on Nebraska.

The ACLU and its Nebraska team sued Fremont in 2010, seeking to overturn the rental ban on the basis that it conflicts with the federal government’s sole authority to regulate immigration and has a discriminatory effect.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split decision, ruled against the challenge.

Severino noted that the ACLU frequently relies on public records to advance its work on civil rights issues.

The new lawsuit is similar to a case filed two years ago that, the ACLU said, ultimately led the DHS and Office of Inspector General to finally release dozens of pages of records on an immigration raid in and around O’Neill, Nebraska.

The ACLU had requested the O’Neill information in 2020, and essentially was stonewalled until the 2022 lawsuit.

Tuesday’s lawsuit, which includes copies of the housing ordinances passed in Fremont and Scribner, seeks immediate release of records related to the ordinances.

“Here we go again,” said Severino. “We’ll see how this shakes out.”

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