Valley Park to continue bid to keep out illegal immigrants

VALLEY PARK, Mo. (AP) -- A St. Louis County town will continue to enforce an ordinance aimed at keeping illegal immigrants away, after members of the city council failed to override a mayoral veto.

For months, Valley Park has been embroiled in a legal battle over sections of a housing code denying occupancy permits to landlords who rent to illegal aliens.

Aldermen voted 7-1 two weeks ago to delete those parts of the code. Mayor Jeffery Whitteaker vetoed the board's decision Friday.

The board needed six votes to override the veto, but on Monday night, only five of its eight members voted to do so. Aldermen Steve Drake and Mike White reversed their earlier votes.

Whitteaker said other communities are counting on Valley Park for guidance. And he said he vetoed the changes because "to repeal what we have worked so hard to create would be a much larger waste of money than to see this issue forward."

About 50 people showed up at Monday's meeting. One man, Frank Rice of Union, handed the board a $500 check to help pay legal costs.

"May God bless this great nation and this fine city," he said.

But several Valley Park residents said they were worried about the cost of fighting a lawsuit.

"All we are doing is dividing our city, and we are sending a lot of attorneys to Disneyland on the city's dime," said Mary Fehner.

The ordinance imposes fines of $500 on businesses and landlords that hire or rent to illegal aliens. A coalition of about 20 attorneys filed suit, saying the law promotes racial profiling, hurts business and causes housing discrimination. Last month, a judge ruled against the ordinance.

So far, the city's legal fees have reached about $80,000. Valley Park has received about $8,000 in donations from supporters.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com.