Thread: CALIFORNIA BANS LANDLORDS FROM ASKING .......

State law bars landlords from asking tenants' immigration status

By: JULIANA BARBASSA - Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO ---- Amid frustration over the federal government's failure to reform immigration laws, cities across the country have looked for other ways to keep out illegal immigrants, including barring landlords from renting to undocumented residents.

Now, California is stopping local officials from taking the matter into their own hands, becoming the first state to approve a law that prohibits landlords from asking tenants' immigration status.

The bill, approved this week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger, elicited a sigh of relief among landlord associations concerned that without it, they'd be forced to take on the cost and the liability of enforcing federal laws as "de facto immigration cops," said Nancy Ahlswede, executive director of the Apartment Association, California Southern Cities.

"We have huge anti-discrimination obligations," said Ahlswede, whose organization was among the legislation's sponsors. "We understand the frustration, but that burden shouldn't be placed on landlords."

Among the cities approving illegal-immigrant rental bans was Escondido, where the City Council voted 3-2 in October 2006 to make landlords subject to fines and possible jail time if they did not remove illegal immigrants from their properties within 10 business days.

The city's law was quickly challenged in court, temporarily blocked by a federal judge and then abandoned by the council in the face of mounting legal costs.

Reached Thursday afternoon, the three council members who voted in favor of the Escondido law said they were disappointed and frustrated that the state legislation had been approved.

"This is a disrespect to the legal immigration process," said Councilman Sam Abed. "It gives illegal immigrants the same rights as legal immigrants."

Councilman Ed Gallo said he was frustrated that opponents of such bans viewed them as racial or ethnic discrimination.

"It's not discrimination to ask someone if they are a legal resident," Gallo said.

Councilwoman Marie Waldron said the new law is evidence that the federal government was wrong to block Escondido's ordinance.

"The fact that the governor has to sign a bill to say that we can't do it means that we could have done it before," said Waldron, who suggested the bill was supported by politicians looking to gain favor with minority groups.

The law pushes against a national trend that finds tensions over immigration and shifting demographics increasingly being dealt with city-by-city and issue-by-issue basis.

More than 90 cities or counties nationwide have considered ordinances that aim to discourage illegal immigrants from settling by making their daily life more difficult. Those include rules forbidding renting to undocumented immigrants, punishing businesses that hire them or requiring police to ask about immigration status.

Proponents of immigration control view the California law as another attempt to block citizens from defending their interests in an area where the federal government has failed.

"It's clear that Washington, D.C., doesn't want to deal with this problem," said Rick Oltman, with Californians for Population Stabilization. "You have cities that want to deal with the problem and this bill would stop them, making them powerless to deal with the illegal alien community."

This view is reflected across the country. Hazleton, Pa., for example, has become a city whose name is synonymous with local action against unauthorized immigration.

Hazleton passed an ordinance last year penalizing landlords who rent to them and employers who hire them. The rule was struck down in federal court as unconstitutional. The city is appealing, and a hearing is expected in the spring.

California's law "certainly adds salt to the wound for mayors who are trying to protect their legal residents and their budgets from the burden of illegal immigration," said Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta.

The mayor is hoping to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, aiming for a ruling that would bring relief to cities around the country trying to follow the same path.

But organizations that have taken local governments to court on the issue argued laws asking landlords to pry into their tenants' immigration status infringes privacy and discrimination statutes, and pre-empts the federal government's authority.

"If the federal government wants to go after someone, they can do that, but a city can't," said Kristina Campbell, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who worked on the lawsuit against Escondido.

Generally, any proposition that orders those not trained in immigration law to determine whether an immigrant is in the country legally is fraught with potential problems, immigrant advocates said.

The law is complicated and a property owner trying to hazard a guess about someone's immigration status could rely on someone's looks or their accent, leading to discrimination, said Reshma Shamasunder, director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.

Greg McConnell, who has two rental properties and helped organize landlords in Berkeley to support the bill, said he's just glad to be out of the cross-hairs of a "bitter and inflammatory" debate that's much larger than they are.

"It's not a question of where landlords stand on the immigration issue, it's a question of who's to enforce those laws," he said

Staff Writer David Garrick contributed to this story.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/10 ... _11_07.txt

As someone with years of experience in this area, I can tell you that it's not necessary to ASK the status of prospective tenants. Most of us in CA can just eyeball someone and tell if they are illegal. But in order to avoid any legal entanglements, I just smile politely and hand everyone a credit report application, along with a processing fee. I simply eliminate anyone without a SSN, job verification, or bad credit. 90% of the apps end up in the circular file. No one can challenge a landlord's decision based on discrimination if a person's legal status is not questioned.

The rental market in SoCal is very, very tight right now, and landlords have the advantage. It's supply/demand. We know that the demand comes from illegals because 200,000 CITIZENS are moving out of CA every year, but the population keeps expanding. CA is Mexico! We just keep building more and more housing to accomodate more and more illegals. We already have a "Don't ask...don't tell" policy in CA! Schwarzenegger didn't have to waste the ink signing a bill to ban landlords from asking...who's asking????

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

As someone with years of experience in this area, I can tell you that it's not necessary to ASK the status of prospective tenants. Most of us in CA can just eyeball someone and tell if they are illegal. But in order to avoid any legal entanglements, I just smile politely and hand everyone a credit report application, along with a processing fee. I simply eliminate anyone without a SSN, job verification, or bad credit. 90% of the apps end up in the circular file. No one can challenge a landlord's decision based on discrimination if a person's legal status is not questioned.

The rental market in SoCal is very, very tight right now, and landlords have the advantage. It's supply/demand. We know that the demand comes from illegals because 200,000 CITIZENS are moving out of CA every year, but the population keeps expanding. CA is Mexico! We just keep building more and more housing to accomodate more and more illegals. We already have a "Don't ask...don't tell" policy in CA! Schwarzenegger didn't have to waste the ink signing a bill to ban landlords from asking...who's asking????

That's right. Hey if you own rental property in Santa Ana CA you know if they don't speak English. 79% of the residents there don't speak English. Let's face it these landlords are just a greedy as the businesses hiring them.

I have to say i don't need to ask anyone i can tell you 99% of the time
in addition We run credit check and we hand pick who lives in the building.