Escondido Passes Illegal Alien Rental Law

As an update to this post, last night the city council of Escondido, CA passed an ordinance banning landlords from renting to illegal aliens. I don't think the San Diego Union-Tribune approved - just look at this headline:

Escondido enacts citizens-only rental ordinance

A good editor should have caught the error in that headline, unless it was the intent of the paper to make an editorial out of it. It's not a "citizen-only" ordinance because there's no requirement that renters be citizens. They just can't be in the country illegally. That's a difference that you would expect a major city newspaper to understand.

Of course, the usual suspects are planning to thwart the will of the council:

Officially, the ordinance will go into effect on Nov. 18, but opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are now working on a lawsuit that will likely seek an injunction banning the city from enforcing the law until the issue is fully litigated.

I'm sure they'll find a sympathetic judge to stay the ordinance. It's not that hard to do in California. I'm sure this will be in the courts for awhile.