Update on Fremont, Nebraska ordinance

Following up on yesterday's post about a special election regarding an anti-immigrant ordinance in Fremont, Nebraska, voters approved the referendum with 57% of the vote. Read more here under the headline, "Nebraska Town Votes to Banish Illegal Immigrants." An excerpt follows:

Opponents of the new law, including some business and church leaders, had argued that the City of Fremont simply could not afford the new law, which is all but certain to be challenged in court. In a flurry of television commercials and presentations by opponents in the final days before Monday’s vote, opponents said paying to defend such a local law would require a significant cut in Fremont city services or a stiff tax increase — or some combination of the two.

Here is an interesting quote from an opponent of the referendum. Like those supporting it, she invoked "small-town values":

There were a lot of tears in this room tonight. Unfortunately, people have voted for an ordinance that’s going to cost millions of dollars, and that says to the Hispanic community that the Anglo community is saying they are not welcome here. They thought they were coming to a small-town community with small-town values.

Read my more academic analysis of these issues in the context of nonmetropolitan areas of the South here.

Read more analysis of what happened in Fremont here.