Thread: Landords Evict More Day Laborers

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... -headlines

Landlords evict more day laborers

BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER
June 30, 2005

In an escalating crackdown on illegally overcrowded houses in Farmingville, more than two dozen day laborers have been evicted from two houses since Brookhaven town and Suffolk County closed a home there last week, authorities and immigrant advocates said yesterday.

And in a ripple effect from the crackdown, other landlords have begun telling tenants to leave their rented houses, the advocates said.

After the June 20 raid on 33 Woodmont Place that left at least 28 Mexican immigrants homeless and led to the arrest of the owner, the town late last week obtained temporary restraining orders forcing illegal tenants out of two other houses in Farmingville, Brookhaven Town spokeswoman Inez Birbiglia said.

Tenants at 9 Granny Rd. were given two hours to remove their belongings and clear out, while those at 16 Starling Place were given two days, said Irma Solis of the Workplace Project. She said a total of 27 workers were thrown out by two landlords, although Birbiglia said a total of 40 men were living in the houses. Landlords at the houses could not be reached for comment.

The evictions are the result of a stepped-up offensive by Brookhaven Town and Suffolk County officials targeting 117 overcrowded houses in Farmingville and 300 elsewhere in the town. Though the campaign has not yet targeted their houses, it has left immigrants such as Juan Cruz, 24, and Esteban Lopez, 26, worried. "We're scared," Cruz said in Spanish as he waited for work yesterday. "Where are we going to live?"

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy praised the crackdown. "The point of the first raid was to send a strong message to the slumlords. Apparently it's worked," Levy said. Levy said he plans to reach out to town officials and nonprofit groups to assist displaced tenants.

Solis questioned that, saying Levy has not met with her group. She said the landlord at 9 Granny Rd. posted a sign in Spanish on the front door telling the men they had to leave by order of a judge and to see the owner to get their rent back. Left homeless, some spent several days sleeping in woods, other advocates said.

Solis added that even some landlords who have not been issued restraining orders are asking tenants to leave. The immigrants are "scared. They don't know who to trust," said Solis.

Levy says officials are cracking down on dangerously overcrowded houses, and note many homeowners have greeted the campaign with cheers. Birbiglia said last week's restraining orders were the result of long investigations. She said the raid and orders were "a wake-up call to some of the landlords ... to come into compliance." Suffolk County says it cannot offer housing assistance to the men if they are undocumented immigrants, and the town says it does not provide social services in general. Advocates say authorities should have had a plan to assist the tenants.

We can't have 30 people living in a house. Ridiculous.

"Where are we going to live?"

Hopefully, in Mexico.