Farmers Branch, Irving among areas in turmoil over crackdown

Year in review: Immigration

08:58 AM CST on Monday, December 24, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dalalsnews.com

Pedro Figueroa is something of an immigrant Everyman.

Ask about his Mexican paisanos and the 48-year-old is quick to defend his countrymen: "People come here to work, not to cause trouble."

Mr. Figueroa worked for more than a decade without proper work papers – sin papeles. Then with a sweeping immigration overhaul in 1986, he received amnesty and legal status.

This year, Congress in effect said "never again," voting down legalization, part of an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, though President Bush plowed his prestige behind its advocacy.

The failure unleashed scores of local fights, both to crack down on illegal immigrants and to protect them from the crackdown.

The Dallas suburbs of Farmers Branch and Irving erupted with rancor, fear and protests.

Farmers Branch passed a renters ordinance that was later challenged in the courts. And Irving's police department began aggressive use of a federal program to ferret out illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

As 2008 rolls out, immigration promises to play front and center in political campaigns, law enforcement practices and human resource departments at companies around the nation, and especially in North Texas, said some key players locally and nationally.