FREMONT, Neb. — Residents of a small Nebraska city have reaffirmed their desire to take on illegal immigration.

Nearly 60 percent of Fremont voters decided Tuesday to keep an ordinance that requires all renters to swear they have legal permission to live in the U.S.

Voters first approved the rules by a smaller margin in 2010. Critics pushed for the new vote, saying the housing restrictions would be ineffective and might cost Fremont millions of dollars in legal fees and lost federal grants. They also said it was hurting the city’s image.

But it wasn’t enough to sway voters in the conservative agricultural hub near Omaha.

Fremont is one of only a handful of cities trying to restrict illegal immigration and, like those other cities, has found itself mired in court fights because of the regulations. City leaders put the ordinance on hold after the 2010 vote while courts reviewed it.

Now, some supporters are questioning whether city leaders will implement the ordinance, which was mostly upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year. The city of 26,000 residents was getting ready to enforce the housing restrictions for the first time last fall when elected officials decided to schedule another vote.

“The mayor and city council need to listen to the people,” said John Wiegert, who helped organize the petition drive that put the ordinance on the 2010 ballot. “The people have spoken twice.”

Fremont resident Matt Kwiatkowski, who voted to keep the housing restrictions, said he doesn’t have any problems with immigrants who legally come to the U.S., but he doesn’t think the country should go easy on people living here illegally. He hopes Fremont’s ordinance will help increase pressure on the federal government to do something about illegal immigration.

“I think more towns need to do this given that the federal government isn’t doing its job,” Kwiatkowski said.

Civil rights groups, which could still derail the ordinance by taking their challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, said they would closely monitor Fremont’s implementation of the rules.