Thread: Immigrants sue SF Housing Authority

A family of Pakistani immigrants living in San Francisco public housing was improperly denied an emergency transfer to another apartment after someone broke into their home, desecrated their Quran, defaced their passports and shredded their traditional clothing, according to a federal court lawsuit.

After the August 2005 incident - which took place during a time of intensified anti-Muslim sentiment in the country and while the San Francisco Housing Authority was under court order to better protect tenants from hate-motivated crimes - agency officials ruled that the break-in at Ashan Khan's apartment was a simple burglary and didn't qualify the family for an emergency apartment transfer, the family says.

According to the suit, which was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Housing Authority officials also were slow to secure their apartment in the Potrero Terrace/Annex project after the incident to protect the Khans against future break-ins.

"I was really upset," said Khan, explaining - with the help of a translator- that he and his family were harassed from the time they moved in to the Potrero Hill housing development, first by neighbors who accused the Khans of being terrorists, then by threatening graffiti painted next to their front door depicting a man dressed like Khan with a gun to his head.

"We were afraid somebody was going to come back and hurt us," he said of the days and weeks after the Aug. 28, 2005, break-in and vandalism.

Gregg Fortner, the Housing Authority executive director, said he couldn't comment on the specific allegations, saying he had not seen the lawsuit and wasn't familiar with the incident or the Khan family's dealings with the agency in its aftermath.

At the time, Fortner said, the Housing Authority was abiding by a legal settlement stemming from a similar lawsuit that required the agency to immediately and thoroughly investigate all claims of harassment motivated by race and religion.

The settlement also required that the agency respond to transfer requests within two weeks and allowed the eviction of any tenants who were found to have perpetrated harassment motivated by hate.

"We have the investigator reporting directly to me to make sure every complaint is investigated," he said. "We still follow that policy."

Khan, who has a wife and seven children, says in the lawsuit that he went first to the site manager to report the incident and ask for a move, then to the Housing Authority's main office, and finally to a legal aid lawyer who contacted the agency's manager in charge of transfers.

At each step, Khan says, agency officials denied that the burglary and vandalism were racially motivated.

more here -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... LTPR7P.DTL

The immigration official that greenlighted legal status to this ingrate who, with his family of 7, is now living off the U.S. taxpayer dime, needs to be FIRED! If you don't like it here Ashan, I suggest you hightail it, at your earliest convienience, to your more religiously "tolerant" (tongue firmly in cheek) home country.

Are citizens just the money cows so our government can give our money away to people from other countries ?

This has got to stop ! Americans work nite and day to keep food on the table and pay their bills including taxes.

No wonder the world is coming here,they can get welfare and hey if that doesn't work out we can always sue those suckers !!

Why were they allowed to come here if they cannot support themselves ?

THIS HAPPENS IN SAN FRANCISCO HOUSING PROJECTS ALL THE TIME. WHAT THIS IMMIGRANT COULD DO IS TO GO RENT AND APARTMENT OR HOUSE ON HIS OWN INSTEAD OF DEMANDING A TRANSFER. ALL THE HOUSING PROJECTS ARE DANGEROUS AND YOU GET ROBBED REGULARLY....THAT IS THE WAY IT IS....SORRY.

You're right Patriot. Why should these people lift a finger to help our Country and our economy? We GIVE them everything for free while we American's are at work 12 hours per day away from our family's. Then our kids are forced to stand and watch our Government GIVE these illegals the American opportunities for education and jobs that we provide. Our American children don't stand a chance in our own America.

from here -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... LTPR7P.DTL

Khan and his 20-year-old daughter, Rehana, said the situation has placed an inordinate amount of stress on the family. His wife has suffered health problems, (medic aid or CalCare???) and they were forced to send several of their children back to Pakistan for about a year in 2006 to make ends meet.

Khan's 16- and 17-year-old sons are now working at McDonald's to help make rent at the three-bedroom apartment that the family of nine is sharing, and Rehana Khan has lost two years of ground in her college studies, she said. (Financial AID???)

"My family continues to suffer - we are still not certain about our housing, and we don't know what our future holds," Ashan Khan said. "The most important thing is the safety of my family, and getting housing that is not just safe but affordable. But I also think what happened to me and my family should not happen to anyone else."

Do you ever feel like one of those poor dairy cows that spend their days knee deep in 'stuff' with two or three times a day have a milking machine attached to them?

Yeah, I feel that way everytime I see my paycheck.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Do you ever feel like one of those poor dairy cows that spend their days knee deep in 'stuff' with two or three times a day have a milking machine attached to them?

Originally Posted by feduphispanic

Khan, who has a wife and seven children,

Sounds like "The Wrath of Khan". For those that don't know, this is a Star Trek movie.