Thread: Condo Letter Scares Illegals

I wish they would do the same in my condo complex. Since they came we have garbage where it shouldn't be and rats the size of cats. When you do laundry in the laundry room the rats run past your feet. It is nasty.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... b01_layout

Letter sends a scare into immigrants at Deerfield complex
By Tal Abbady | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 20, 2007

Elizeth Nunes lost two of her neighbors to fear earlier this month.

Once the letter from the condo president was posted, they packed up and left Brookfield Gardens Building One in Deerfield Beach.

"I am requesting that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] come into our building and do a door to door documentation of everyone's legal status in this country ... If you do not make yourselves available with your documentation, I will allow authorities to do whatever they deem necessary, including forcible entry into the unit," wrote Lilyann Ferrara, in a letter circulated Oct. 8 among tenants, about 70 percent of whom are Brazilian.

After some tenants called their lawyers and denounced the letter, Ferrara abruptly resigned Oct. 14, citing health problems. At an emergency meeting Thursday, board members voted in a new president.

But residents and lawyers say the damage was already done for those who fled. They argued the letter violated federal fair housing laws because it targeted the building's Brazilians, though it was posted in public areas. Others said it was evidence that the acrimonious national debate over immigration had crept into the trim, well-kept apartment complex.

"It's discrimination. She threatened us. She tried to break up our community," said Nunes, 25, who works as a baby-sitter and is originally from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She and her husband, Adilson Nunes, 45, have owned their unit, where they live with their 6-year-old son, Michael, for four years.

Nunes said two Brazilians who were renting in the building and had no documentation left in a panic when the letter arrived.

"We're sad and frustrated," she said about losing her friends. "These are hard-working people."

Ferrara said she wanted to keep close track of the tenants' identities in the 24-unit condo building and had the authority to ask for proof of status, though her letter did not have board approval. She said tenants had been renting to undocumented immigrants without the board's consent, as required by the building's bylaws. Unfamiliar faces, she claimed, frequently moved in and out of the building, leaving littered hallways, damaged property and no paper trail to find them and recoup the losses.

"I embrace anyone who wants to rent and live in Brookfield Gardens provided they can prove that they are legal residents in the United States of America," said Ferrara, 52, and an eight-year resident of the building. She said the condo board's bylaws require that all renters and owners have valid Social Security numbers, but that recent background checks ordered by the board showed that several tenants were using false numbers.

"This is not about discrimination. It's about legality," Ferrara said, referring to immigration laws.

Her tactics drew harsh criticism.

"This is a ridiculous letter written by a xenophobe, by someone who is intolerant and is trying to scare people," said Iara Nogueira Morton, a Miami-based attorney who has many Brazilian clients and was familiar with the incident.

The federal Fair Housing Act protects people from housing discrimination based on race, national origin, religion, gender, marital status and disability but not immigration status. But landlords who don't apply their policies to all tenants are in violation of the law, according to Bryan Greene, a deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in Washington, D.C.

"You can't require documents from just one group, like Hispanics, and not make the same inquiries of others," Greene said, commenting generally about the law.

Ferrara said she did not mail the letter to all tenants, but instead posted it on entry doors and in the mail room. Fearing legal action against her, she has hired an attorney.

Izabel Carvalho, 23, said the letter was clearly targeted at the building's immigrant tenants.

"I laughed when I saw it. I've lived in this country for 10 years and I know my rights," said Carvalho, a legal resident from Brasilia, Brazil, who works at a car dealership. She, her husband and 7-year-old daughter have rented in the building since May.

But the threats frightened her mother-in-law, Neuza Silva, 41, who is visiting from Brazil. Silva said she had planned to move into the building to be near her family but now has doubts.

"I don't see how they have the right to do this," Silva said.

In an e-mailed statement, Ivan Ortiz of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency does not typically respond to raid requests from private citizens.

"All our operations are targeted and based on solid investigations, specific intelligence leads and priorities," he wrote.

Even if Ferrara's letter is not enforceable, advocates said it echoed the language of ordinances passed around the country targeting undocumented immigrants. Some say such ordinances and Ferrara's own proposal reflect tensions over the country's growing number of immigrants and the fight to legalize the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants.

"It's direct discrimination as a result of the political atmosphere toward immigrants," said Scott Devore, president of the South Florida chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, whose office is in Palm Beach Gardens. "I'm shocked the woman put her name on it," he said of Ferrara's letter.

The building's attorney couldn't be reached Friday, and it was unknown whether the board would pursue Ferrara's proposal.

But if immigration authorities come knocking, Devore advised, "Don't open the door."

Why is enforcing America's law racist. Everyother country wants to enforce their laws and Mexico's is much harsher than Americas. We should all illegals to Mexico since they want to govern our enforcement they should take the illegals and give them a job to set an example for us poor "racist" Americans.