Thread: Renting to illegal migrants: 2 views

Renting to illegal migrants: 2 views
By ELIZABETH LLORENTE, STAFF WRITER | 08/24/08 02:02 AM

Should states get involved in regulating it?

Several New Jersey communities are among those nationwide that have proposed measures to outlaw renting to illegal immigrants.

Most such tries have failed because local governing bodies have withdrawn them in the face of costly legal challenges, or judges have deemed them unconstitutional. But the issue of renting to illegal immigrants still simmers.

Those who favor penalizing landlords who knowingly rent to illegal immigrants say federal laws treat such rentals as "harboring" -- akin to giving sanctuary. They say it should be considered tantamount to aiding that tenant's violation of immigration law.

"Renting to illegal immigrants is aiding and abetting," said Ron Bass, founder of the Linden-based United Patriots of America, an advocate of stricter immigration enforcement. "Everyone who is in the country legally has a right to have a roof over their head. But people who are here illegally need to go home, to their country."

But civil rights groups and advocates for immigrants argue that immigration is a federal matter and states have no business regulating it. They also point to the inevitable complications.

"How would a landlord determine who is documented and who is not?" asked Miguel Rivera of Hackensack, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which has rallied to protest such measures. "Landlords do not have the ability to evaluate immigration documents. This would lead to racial profiling -- it will target minorities; it is racist."

The effort to penalize landlords is one of the latest moves by town officials who fault the federal government for failing to deal with illegal immigration's local impacts. They cite crowds of day laborers seeking work and crowding in homes and schools.

Some 500,000 illegal immigrants are believed to live in New Jersey, and 12 million in the country.

New Jersey towns that have drafted the rentals ordinances include Riverside, Freehold, Bound Brook and Middletown. The laws, which have been rescinded or struck down in most cases, typically call for fining landlords about $1,000. In June, a national group that favors strict immigration laws sued a Plainfield property management company, claiming it encourages illegal immigration by renting to a large number of undocumented immigrants.

The suit by the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a legal arm of the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, has attracted nationwide note by citing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). RICO is normally used to prosecute organized crime or large-scale immigration violations such as human smuggling.

Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello, who wants his local police federally deputized to enforce immigration law, said his town's aggressive efforts to fine landlords who allow crowded conditions -- a common problem among undocumented immigrants -- have led to a reduction of such violations.

"Enforcement efforts make landlords decide to stop violations," Cresitello said.

But undocumented immigrants say they shouldn't be run out of town -- because the community depends on them.

"We're working in those communities where we rent," said an undocumented Guatemalan factory worker in Palisades Park who asked to remain unidentified. "We're buying in those businesses, paying sales tax, paying the landlord's property taxes through our rent -- we're contributing to these communities."

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com
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"How would a landlord determine who is documented and who is not?" asked Miguel Rivera of Hackensack, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which has rallied to protest such measures. "Landlords do not have the ability to evaluate immigration documents. This would lead to racial profiling -- it will target minorities; it is racist."

Here we go with the racism crap again.
Landlords, reporting any income from any rental property, should contact their local boards of Realtors to demand that courses be given in looking at documents. There is also so much that can be done through other agencies to verify SS#s. I recommend E-Verify for landlords as well, and if they don't I am sure the IRS would be interested in going over the books for unreported rental income.

I have NEVER rented anyplace where I wasn't required to give proof of something, job, references, relatives, income, credit report etc. Never have I ever rented where they might not say, no children, no pets, no smoking, no overnight guests or additional tennants without approval, no loud parties, no grill on the balcony, no painting, no nails in the walls, no more than 1 vehilcle allowed, on down the line with limits and restrictions and such. People who own their own houses and condos have restrictions and rules. To think a landlord HAS to rent to anyone who was the first to walk up and ask, with no information is crazy. I've done it just answering an add and also going through rental agencies or personal friends. They just didn't say OK and give me free reign to do whatever I wanted. I had papers to sign and leases to sign and agreements to make. They have Senior communities where you must be 55 or over, no children allowed except for visits. To think people have no restrictions at all is crazy. Heck I was kicked out of an apartment in New York because my roommate was gay. The landlord met her, everything.....supposidly illegal but no "rights" group comming to my rescue. Even went to a tennents rights advocate group......basicly told me it was ok. Laws were useless to protect the slum lords. The landlord didn't really need a reason. It was his property. Truth be known it was cheap and in a slum.....we cleaned it up and painted etc, with his approval and all....but once he saw how nice we fixed it up....on my dime...., he could rent it for twice as much with no problem, so he kicked us out. I wasn't gay and we weren't a couple, we were both 2 single girls, in seperate rooms, just going to school and working. No noise, no car, no parties, no men or anyone trapsing in and out at all hours. I lived in a trailer court, in the young marrieds section. Owned the trailer, not the land. Got divorced and was kicked out because I was now single and no spots available in the singles section to move the trailer to. And don't even tell me my tiny puppy could destroy an apartment like 13 adults living in a 1 bedroom apt.. Or my puppy with 8 kids. But I couldn't rent and it's not illegal to have a dog, or smoke, or anything else they have as restrictions.

They should stop renting to illegals. If people want to see the end results then I would gladly bring them to my condo complex. When I moved in it was clean and had nice people. Now it is filthy, you hear "policia", "noooo!", "Escucheme", and etc in spanish being yelled everyday. There's also roaches, and rats. Colombians go dumpster diving everyday also. The stairwells are used as toilets, as well as the elevator. Our lovely illegal cleaning people think that cleaning is dumping a gallon of bleach in the stairwell, where there is no air circulation. You walk in there and you can't breathe at all. Illegals also break into your car to trade your items (car sterio, GPS system, etc, etc) for crack... The list goes on and on. Anything you can imagine, happens here in our lovely 3rd world Miami Condo Complex.

I have yet to meet a landlord or property owner who rents properties out of the goodness of their heart! In other words, like any other business, they are in it to make money!

As such, they should be treated like any other "for profit" business that hires employees in this country! Thy should be required to verify every person they rent properties to!

In fact, everythime I have rented a property, I have been required to undergo a background check that was quite extensive! Don't tell me landlords do not have the ability to verify a potential tenant's immigration status before they rent a property to them!

Those who rent to illegals likely do not want to know as long as the rent checks are rolling in! After all, they are not the ones that have to live next door to them!

crazybird, you will be pleased to know that you are not alone in any of these experiences. Working for 10 years as a rental agent in Fla. I had to deal with throwing out some really vicious people--the guys that rented one of our apartments and decided the living room was a great place to rebuild a motorcycle, and whose German shepherd would get so excited he broke out the window screens while they were away. Luckily these guys moved because they were behind on the rent but it was just the beginning of the nightmare. The carpet was jumping with hungry fleas and the washer was full of maggots from dirty clothes and water left in there. I called the carpet guy, but he refused to clean the carpet until someone got the place clean enough to breath. I had to bug bomb the fleas before someone dared to walk in to clean, so the carpet guy could walk in and clean.
And one word of advice to everyone--never ever buy a mobile home or trailer unless you also own the land underneath. During Fla.'s housing price boom, quite a few of the parks decided the land was much more valuable than the rents they were getting for the park. It was about the same time a new law was passed not allowing the transport of any mobile home or trailer built before 1992.
As for the over-55 communities, there was one that made headlines after a young single mother with two little kids came to stay as she had lost all her possessions and house when Hurricane Charley roared through. The park decided to throw her and the kids out.
During Hurricane Charley, I ran to my mother's apartment with the dog to sit out the winds as I lived on an island. I spent about five days, and afterwards, management told my mother that during the next hurricane (Hurricane Wilma, in 2005) I was not welcome (perhaps because they were too cheap to purchase a generator to keep emergency lights in hallways running, which I know is a violation of fire code, and I told them that. Oops!)

Should states get involved in regulating it?

If a state can regulate whether or not I wear a seatbelt, they then should certainly regulate whether or not someone who entered this country in violation of federal immigration law can rent an apartment!

There's also roaches, and rats

LOL......the roaches scared the heck out of me.....now the Florida Rats are like our mice......wait till you see a big one!

Florida's deer are like the size of goats.....but hands down, you win on bugs!!!!!!!!

But undocumented immigrants say they shouldn't be run out of town -- because the community depends on them.

"We're working in those communities where we rent," said an undocumented Guatemalan factory worker in Palisades Park who asked to remain unidentified. "We're buying in those businesses, paying sales tax, paying the landlord's property taxes through our rent -- we're contributing to these communities."

Gimme a break buddy! You don't contribute a thing to the community! You send your kids to schools that WE pay for (you don't), you suck up as many social services freebies you can lie, cheat or steal to get (but you don't pay into them), you don't pay state or federal taxes, you overcrowd and use our ERs without paying for it, you shove multiple families into the smallest homes, you drive without licenses and don't pay insurance, you send at least half your money to your home countries (thereby worsening our economy even more), and much, much more.

Now tell me the positives from your illegal presence in my country?

Sorry I got off on the rental tangent the way I did, but I spent a couple of summers working for a Canadian that owned 15 rental properties, duplexes, four-plexes and cottages. I managed to clean out a lot of the renters who seemed to be illegal (not speaking a word of English and always paying in cash is a bit suspicious to me) and when they would invite me into one cottage, there was a young chicken running around the living room, which would probably grow up to become a fighting cock.
The rest I had to get rid of were folks that dealt a lot of drugs, for which the Sheriff's department knew me real well. They had to stand by while the moving company moved the stuff to the curb. By the time I started again the next summer, he had cleaned out all my renters and put in more non-English speakers and drug dealing types. Then he was snagged by DEA at the border and thrown in jail for dealing cocaine. He was a very nice guy.