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Brookhaven eviction powers revoked
Judge temporarily repeals Brookhaven’s ability to evict tenants on short notice; town must now give warning

BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER

December 16, 2005, 9:15 PM EST

A federal judge Friday ordered Brookhaven Town to retool a housing code enforcement program that immigrant rights advocates claimed in a class-action suit is a systematic campaign to rid Farmingville of Latino day laborers.

U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip issued a preliminary injunction against the town, blocking it from obtaining "ex parte" temporary restraining orders against the tenants -- which it used for immediate evictions -- unless officials provide them with prior notice.

The decision essentially means Brookhaven cannot evict tenants with a few hours' notice unless the house clearly poses an imminent danger.

Immigrant rights groups called the decision a major victory and predicted it would disrupt the town's illegal-housing crackdown in Farmingville by stopping them from carrying out many of the evictions. "Only Latinos were evicted in this campaign that threw hundreds into the streets," said Cesar Perales of the Manhattan-based Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the lawsuit. "Local governments cannot be allowed to use housing violations as a pretext to drive day laborers out of communities."

But an attorney for Brookhaven said the decision will not affect how the town conducts the crackdown because it has followed legal guidelines. Jeltje DeJong, a Smithtown-based attorney, also denied allegations of discrimination.

"The Town of Brookhaven certainly wasn't targeting Latinos," she said. "The Town of Brookhaven was targeting houses that were overpopulated, that had poor sanitation problems." She noted that some of the houses had problems such as propane gas barbecues near exposed electrical wires.

The Puerto Rican group argued that Latinos make up 8 percent of Brookhaven's population but 100 percent of the evicted tenants. They said they do not oppose immediate eviction of tenants in truly dangerous conditions, but that the town has also used the campaign to immediately throw tenants out of homes that pose no imminent danger. They argued that in many cases, the town waited months to shut down houses after detecting the alleged problems, then gave the tenants just a few hours to leave.

DeJong said the temporary restraining orders the town obtained were signed by state court judges who agreed with Brookhaven that the houses posed an imminent danger.

Seybert's order, which is preliminary, does not end the case -- more hearings will be held to make a final determination on the Puerto Rican group's allegations.

Since June, Brookhaven has evicted at least 100 tenants from 11 homes in Farmingville. The conflict peaked on Aug. 10, when some tenants evicted from 196 Berkshire Dr. set up tents in the backyard, where they lived for two months.

The town's crackdown has been cheered by many residents fed up with overcrowded houses they say are dangerous and destroy the community's quality of life. Advocates for the immigrants say they have no place else to live, and that workers play a key role in the economy by filling jobs in landscaping and construction.