Fremont residents will discuss Tuesday night whether their community  will become the first in Nebraska to try its hand at regulating illegal immigration.

The City Council will consider an ordinance prohibiting businesses from hiring illegal immigrant and prohibiting landlords from renting to them.

Businesses in the city would be required to use an Internet-based system to verify they aren’t employing illegal immigrants. Businesses that don’t comply could lose their licenses, permits or city contracts.

Prospective renters would have to prove they’re not illegal immigrants before becoming tenants.

 Fremont is one of a handful of Nebraska cities that have undergone marked demographic change, primarily due to the many Hispanic workers at meatpacking plants.

The proposal has stirred strong opinions in this community of 25,000. Supporters say the law is needed to make up for what they see as lax enforcement by federal officials. Opponents say the law could divide the community and make the city vulnerable to costly legal challenges.

Directors of two community business groups say they don’t condone illegal activity, but they say they believe the additional regulations could hurt small businesses and threaten development efforts.

Large employers in the area, including Fremont Beef and Hormel, are already using the Internet-based system, though both plants are outside city limits and would not be subject to the new rules.

Hormel also extended an invitation to the City Council to tour its plant.

The electronic system can take the guesswork out of the hiring process, but is not error-proof, said spokeswoman Marilu Cabrera of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

If approved, the new law likely would not result in business closures but could create difficulties especially for small businesses that don’t use the Internet, said Allan Hale, executive director of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce.

Originally, the proposed ordinance only addressed renting to illegal immigrants. The part dealing with hiring was added last week.

During a hearing earlier this month, City Attorney Dean Skokan cautioned against adding hiring provisions. A 1997 attorney general opinion determined the state did not have authority over that, and Skokan said that meant the city had no such authority either.

When asked Monday where those concerns stood, Skokan declined to comment.

Fremont has not had any sizable federal investigations of its work force in the last several years, said Tim Counts, a spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Besides potentially hampering small business, the proposal could affect business development and efforts to recruit documented workers, said Kevin Wilkins, executive director of the Greater Fremont Development Council.

Landlords have justifiable concern as well, said Wilkins, who believes the proposed regulations for the rental housing market may pose even greater problems.

The proposal calls for renters to secure $5 occupancy licenses to prove their legal status.

Renters without licenses or landlords renting to people without occupancy licenses would each be subject to a fine of $100.

Officials in Hazleton, Pa., Escondido, Calif., Farmers Branch, Texas, Valley Park, Mo., and Riverside, N.J., are among those who’ve voted on similar measures regarding renters.

The ordinances were eventually repealed in Riverside and Escondido while federal judges struck down decisions in Hazleton and Farmers Branch, saying that only the federal government can regulate immigration.

In February, a federal judge upheld the Valley Park ordinance. That law was crafted to penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants. The suburban St. Louis city had rescinded an earlier version of the law that sought to fine landlords who rented to illegal immigrants.

A final vote on Fremont’s ordinance is set for Aug. 26.