A Federal Judge handed down a ruling Monday on the legality of Fremont's controversial city ordinance on Illegal Immigrants.  The two sides differ on the effect.  The two groups trying to overturn the ordinance included the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.  

Lincoln attorney Shirley Mora James, who worked with MALDEF, says the judge "effectively gutted the ordinance."

A spokesman for the City of Fremont agreed that part of the controversial ordinance that sought to ban hiring or renting to illegal immigrants has been rejected, but much of the rule might still take effect next month. Judge Smith Camp said parts of the 2010 ordinance that would have denied housing permits to illegal immigrants are discriminatory and interfere with federal law. Fremont's attorney Kris Kobach, who is also Kansas' Secretary of State, says 75 percent of the ordinance was upheld. That includes requiring that Fremont employers use the federal E-Verify database to ensure employees are legal. Kobach says the city can still require anyone seeking to rent property to apply for a $5 city permit and check their citizenship status. Kobach says the ruling simply prevents the city from revoking those permits.  Kobach did not say whether the City of Fremont planned to appeal the ruling.