SAN DIEGO -- A coalition of civil rights groups and private attorneys filed a lawsuit Friday aimed at striking down an Escondido ordinance that prohibits landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

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The move by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations asks the federal court to declare the city's rental ban illegal and unconstitutional, and had been expected since before a City Council majority passed the measure last month.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Escondido landlords as well as two anonymous women who live in the country illegally, have children who are U.S. citizens and say their families would be displaced if the measure is enforced. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge John Houston.

At a news conference to announce the lawsuit, David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties, said the measure flies in the face of Congress's power to enact and enforce immigration law. The council's ordinance states that the penalties are needed because the federal government has not done its job to protect Escondido against illegal immigration.

"You don't get to take the law into your own hands, whether you're an individual or a city or a state," Blair-Loy said. "If the Escondido City Council majority doesn't like the way the federal government is enforcing or structuring immigration law, it doesn't get to take the law into its own hands and act as a vigilante."

Lawyers for the coalition -- which also includes the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, People for the American Way and the Fair Housing Council of San Diego, as well as two private law firms -- said they plan to ask the court next week for a temporary restraining order against the law, which is set to take effect Nov. 18.

Escondido City Attorney Jeffrey Epp said he had reviewed a copy of the lawsuit and that the city's legal team was preparing its response. Earlier this week, the council hired a private attorney to lead the defense of the ordinance.

"It didn't seem any of the claims were unexpected," Epp said, "and I think the issues on this case are pretty straightforward as to a city's ability to regulate this area of the law."

Epp has said he believes the housing ordinance will withstand any legal challenges.

Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked a similar law in Hazleton, Pa., ruling that landlords, tenants and businesses that cater to Latinos faced "irreparable harm" from the measure.

The lawsuit against Escondido contends that its rental ban is preempted by federal and state laws governing immigration and housing, and that it denies due process to tenants and landlords. It also says the ban amounts to a violation of the city's constitutional requirement to provide equal protection under the law.

Under the city's rental ban, landlords found to be "harboring" illegal immigrants would have 10 business days to remove the tenants, or face penalties ranging from suspension of their business licenses to fines of up to $1,000 a day and six months in jail.

Lawyers for the coalition said that, under the housing ordinance, landlords found to be renting to illegal immigrants must either violate state law by evicting someone without going through the proper legal channels or continue to violate the city's rental ban and face penalties.

Enforcement of the ordinance would be based on written complaints filed with the city's business license division. Complaints based on race, ethnicity or national origin would be dismissed, according to the law.

Nevertheless, attorney Hal Rosner, of Rosner & Mansfield LLP, a private law firm that has signed on to the suit, said the rental ban encourages discrimination against Latinos. Landlords, he said, will likely avoid renting to Latino tenants, rather than face the potential penalties.

"What's the safe way (to avoid violating the housing ordinance)?" Rosner said. "Don't rent to anyone who calls into question (whether they are) legal or not."

About 42 percent of the city's 140,000 residents are Latino, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. No precise numbers exist as to how many of those are illegal immigrants.

Roy Garrett, an Escondido landlord and attorney, and one of the complainants in the suit, said the ordinance was discriminatory against Latinos and places an unfair burden on those who rent property. Even if the courts uphold the law, Garrett said, he has no intention of enforcing it.

"To hire those folks and use their labor and accept their product and then tell them they can't live on the plantation is 100 percent immoral," Garrett said. "And we ought not participate in such … obnoxious decisions."

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.