Kansas Attorney Kris Kobach and his Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) ought to be taken to the court woodshed for costing taxpayers millions of dollars in frivolous and wasted legal fees to defend the Institute’s concocted local ordinances aimed at restricting the hiring or housing of undocumented immigrants.  Part of the infamous, anti-immigrant John Tanton Network and its flagship Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the IRLI is the alleged “legal arm” of the movement to stop immigration.

Fremont, Nebraska is but the latest prey in the IRLI scheme and scam, with its passage of a voter referendum this week to prevent hiring of or renting to undocumented persons.  The outcome of the referendum has a long and sordid history.  Beginning in 2007 with a group of local residents, anti-immigrant fervor in Fremont moved to a City Council vote in 2008 to essentially rid the city of “illegal immigrants” by way of an ordinance “largely prepared by the Immigration Reform Law Institute,” according to the City Administrator.  The City Council’s tie vote was broken by the Mayor, who voted against the ordinance.  The ensuing political and legal machinations to put the issue to a public vote went all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court ruling for the referendum.  The vote was held, the ordinance passed, 57-43%.

Kris Kobach’s handprints are all over Fremont, but he likely won’t be around when the city’s legal bills to defend the ordinance come due.  He is, after all, running for Secretary of State in Kansas, and building a national reputation among the anti-immigrant crowd for his “successful” state and local strategies to curb immigration.  He’s a busy man—too busy to clean up the messes he, IRLI, and FAIR makes across the country with their overwrought and useless pillage of anti-immigrant anger.

The anti-immigrant activists celebrating today in Fremont might want to take a look at the legal bills incurred by Farmers Branch, Texas after it boldly enacted a similar IRLI ordinance.  So far, the bill stands at $3.3 million and is likely to rise to $5 million.  Hazelton, Pennsylvania, the community that paved the way for the IRLI local strategy, has already paid out about $5 million to defend its ordinance, either in donations or taxpayer dollars.  One wonders why some of these municipalities haven’t taken legal action against Kobach and his crew for luring them into the costly trap that does absolutely nothing to curb immigration, except perhaps to scare immigrants out of town.  If that’s the only outcome, it’s an extraordinarily expensive way to deal with the issue; it would be cheaper to offer folks straight-out cash to leave.

There are a lot of good people in Fremont who fought against the passage of this referendum, and who have stood strong since anti-immigrant fervor reared its head in 2007.  But for those who backed the referendum and who stand by it, here’s the rub: Fremont and its cohort of anti-immigrant communities now stand midstream in the historic waters of white nationalism, with mentors like Kobach, IRLI, and FAIR.  Harsh?  Hardly.  The legal costs are high; the moral costs higher.  For decades municipalities from the Deep South to Chicago enacted “legal” restrictions to keep African Americans from renting or buying homes.   By ordinance and by law they sought to thwart the migrations and settlement of Black folk.  Think about it, Fremont, think about it.  In case you want to call Kris Kobach for more legal advice, or for a donation to cover upcoming the millions of dollars in legal fees you just incurred for the city, good luck.  He’s a busy man.