Thread: Ordinance puts landlords that rent to illegals in a bind

Ordinance puts landlords in a bind
By Stephen Deere
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/14/2006

VALLEY PARK

When the city barred landlords from housing illegal immigrants, Ed Sidwell knew he might have a problem.

He didn't expect to find out about it this soon.

Last Tuesday - just three weeks after Valley Park passed a law to crack down on illegal immigration - Sidwell received a phone call from police. Advertisement

The message: They found a family in one of his rentals was here illegally.

A former alderman and Valley Park police officer, Sidwell finds himself in a difficult position. He was at the meeting when the council unanimously passed the new law. He told the mayor he supported it; the country needs to combat illegal immigration, he believes. And he feels he must abide by the city law, even if it means making a hard choice.

"I'm probably going to have no choice but to provide them with a notice to vacate," he said. "It's very emotional for me. ... We are dealing with people's lives."

At least two Valley Park landlords are under investigation for violating the new law, said Lt. Scott Melies, commander of the St. Louis County Police Department's Valley Park detail. He would not elaborate on the investigations.

The city's ordinance mandates fines of $500 or more for landlords caught knowingly renting to illegal immigrants. It also punishes the businesses that hire them - they are barred from getting business permits or city contracts - and makes English the city's official language.

City Attorney Eric Martin said suspected violators will first be sent letters giving them 10 days to show that their tenants or employees are not breaking federal immigration law.

On July 17, Valley Park became one of a handful of cities nationwide that have passed ordinances meant to stifle illegal immigration within their borders. It is one of the latest attempts from local governments to deal with what they believe is a failing federal immigration policy.

The new ordinance says illegal immigration increases crime, overcrowds schools and destroys neighborhoods. Mayor Jeffery Whitteaker, who championed the law, has said Valley Park doesn't have those problems yet but needed a "preventive measure" to keep them from occurring.

Sidwell, who owns several rental properties in Valley Park, said police informed him about a house he was renting to a man, his wife and children. The man is here legally, he said, but his family is not.

"I didn't even think to be concerned about his wife and children," Sidwell said. "They are just good, hardworking people."

He said he reluctantly delivered a letter to his tenants Thursday, asking them to provide documents showing they are in the country legally.

In addition to Valley Park, seven other municipalities have passed similar ordinances, according to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, which tracks the legislation. In Palm Bay, Fla., and Hazleton, Pa., residents have reported that police have begun enforcing the laws, said John Garcia, a spokesman.

The organization has received complaints that "cops are pulling people over and using it as a chance to ask them for papers and where they work," he said.

The organization has received two phone calls from residents in Valley Park, Garcia said, and "we are in the process of trying to get them legal representation."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has said the new law could lead to discrimination, with landlords and business owners afraid to hire or rent to anyone who appears foreign.

Some Valley Park landlords say the law puts them in a difficult position.

"We can only ask so many questions," said Stephanie Reynolds. "This is not my problem. This is a state and federal problem."

Reynolds says she is under investigation for possibly violating the new city law.

One of Reynolds' tenants, 16-year-old Alberto Lopez, was on his way to play basketball at a local church's court last Monday night when police questioned him and found out he was here illegally.

Melies said county police officers were in the area on an unrelated case. Police spotted Lopez as he drove into the parking lot, Melies said. One officer knew him from her work at Valley Park High School and didn't think he had a license, according to Melies, so they stopped to question him.

Lopez, originally from Puebla, Mexico, says he immigrated to the U.S. with his mom and brother when he was 8. He will be a sophomore at Valley Park High School this year.

At the basketball court, Lopez couldn't show the officers a valid drivers license, and "somewhere in the course of the conversation, he admitted he wasn't here legally," Melies said.

He was cited for driving without a license. Later that evening, the police showed up at his home and questioned him, his three brothers, sister and mother, Petra Sanchez Rojas. The only identification they could present were expired passports.

Melies said police must call Immigration and Customs Enforcement to update or verify a resident's immigration status, which it has done in the Lopez case. Melies has said police have no opinion on the ordinance and are only doing their jobs in enforcing it.

"We are going to enforce it like any other ordinance in Valley Park," Melies said.

The family members admitted in interviews with the Post-Dispatch that they are here illegally. The family says they are not afraid of being deported, as long as they have time to sell their possessions. They say they pay taxes and have Social Security numbers. They have waited anxiously for action on President George W. Bush's proposal for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for the country's undocumented workers.

But for now, they say, they simply must go on with their lives.

On Sunday, Lopez's sister, Guadalupe, 22, was busy getting married.

She stood in her parents' living room wearing her wedding dress.

"I'm not scared," she said. "I'm happy now."


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

"They are just good, hardworking people."

Sure, just like all of them are!!!!

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has said the new law could lead to discrimination, with landlords and business owners afraid to hire or rent to anyone who appears foreign.

This POS group needs to change their name from 'American' to Illegal Civil Liberties Union.

They say they pay taxes and have Social Security numbers.

How do they have a valid SSN if they are here illegaly? (Like I really need to ask that one!)

<<<<<<<<<<,The family members admitted in interviews with the Post-Dispatch that they are here illegally. The family says they are not afraid of being deported, as long as they have time to sell their possessions. They say they pay taxes and have Social Security numbers. They have waited anxiously for action on President George W. Bush's proposal for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for the country's undocumented workers. >>>>...

And just where did they get these social security numbers from?
Sell their belongings? Unbelieveable!

And a comment on the headline. It would seem to me that landlords wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing if the government wouldn't have allowed this situation to become what it is today by ignoring it for so long.

At the basketball court, Lopez couldn't show the officers a valid drivers license, and "somewhere in the course of the conversation, he admitted he wasn't here legally," Melies said.

It doesn't stop with just being here illegally, does it. They keep on breaking the law, because they have no respect for the law. But why should they, our government has no respect for the law either.

It doesn't stop with just being here illegally, does it.

Exactly. That is why I find it astounding that they even THINK it might be all right for people who have lived here long enough to compound their crimes so many times over-- with fake ID's, fake DL's, stolen or fake birth certificates for their kids and every other type of fraudulent piece of paper on earth-- to stay here.

And these interviewees are probably still here, too.
It is way out of control and sooner or later the the American people are going to take control and just herd them all to the bus station.

I will personally volunteer to buy a ticket for one today if they will just get out of my country.