Prosecution of landlords worries activists, ACLU
CHARGES OF HARBORING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 'FUEL A PHOBIA'
By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Immigration activists and the ACLU are accusing the federal government of overreaching in the prosecution of two Lexington landlords who had rented to 60 illegal immigrants.
The case, possibly the first of its kind in Kentucky, potentially places landlords in the uneasy situation of being on the front lines of the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration. It's a task that opens the door for discrimination claims and is something landlords are not trained to do, say civil libertarians and lawyers for landlords and immigrants.
The charges, says Michael Aldridge of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, are an attempt by the federal government to intimidate landlords and immigrants.
"It fuels a phobia, it creates this feeling of discrimination in the community, and I am sure it heightens everyone's uneasiness across the board," said Aldridge, the group's executive director. "It's a horrible situation."
Father and son landlords William Jerry Hadden and Jamey Hadden are accused of harboring illegal immigrants from 2000 to November 2007 at the Woodridge Apartments and Cross Keys Apartments in Lexington. Authorities said they were renting to 60 illegal immigrants.
The charges elicited cheers on conservative blogs and talk radio. Anti-immigration activists see it as a bold new front in the crackdown that will discourage illegal immigrants from settling in Lexington.
Businesses that profit from illegal immigration, they say, should be punished.
But civil libertarians and advocates for immigrants are alarmed by the case.
They note the Haddens were charged even though it is not illegal to rent to undocumented immigrants. Outside of landlords who accept federal Section 8 housing subsidies, landlords have no obligation to check a tenant's legal status.
"That is why these charges are so shocking," said Cori Hash, a lawyer for the Immigrant Rights Project at the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic. "When I heard about it, my jaw dropped."
On Feb. 29, a federal grand jury in Lexington indicted the Haddens on 32 criminal charges, including harboring, conspiracy, money laundering and encouraging and inducing illegal immigrants to live in the United States.
The majority of counts stem from 60 illegal immigrants the Haddens had rented to. Authorities say the men harbored illegal immigrants from 2000 to November 2007. The allegations might technically fall under the legal definition of harboring, Aldridge said. But the Hadden case goes far beyond the law's original intent, he said.
The charges aren't likely to hold up in court, Hash said. Harboring laws were intended to target human traffickers or employers who are trying to hide their work forces.
But the indictment alleges that the Haddens did far more than simply rent to illegal immigrants.
According to the indictment, the Haddens knowingly hired two Mexican citizens to manage the apartments and weakened their application process to accommodate illegal immigrants. They stopped requiring credit checks, Social Security numbers, past addresses, employment history and references for applicants, ostensibly so illegal immigrants would not be rejected for apartments.
One of the employees would encourage undocumented applicants who did not have Social Security numbers to provide IRS tax identification numbers instead, according to the indictment. The tax numbers are used to process tax returns for illegal immigrants.
Applications were translated into Spanish. And after Kentucky Utilities started requiring Social Security numbers to obtain electrical service, the apartment complexes opened accounts in their names and distributed the billing statements to tenants.
This concealed the identities of tenants, according to the indictment.
Officials at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago could not point to any similar cases where landlords had been prosecuted.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gail Montenegro declined to comment on the Hadden case since it is pending in U.S. District Court in Lexington.
"Anyone who is knowingly harboring, or housing or transporting illegal aliens is subject to criminal prosecution," Montenegro said. "They shouldn't be surprised if they are facing criminal charges."
The Haddens' attorney, Tucker Richardson of Lexington, declined to comment. But he has said he will aggressively fight the charges.
News of the charges against the Haddens made landlords all over town uneasy, said Stephen Marshall, a Lexington attorney who represents several landlords.
Marshall said he received several phone calls from concerned clients.
It places landlords in a particular bind, Lexington lawyer Charlie Ward says, because they do not have grounds to evict a tenant simply because he or she is undocumented.
Landlords do have grounds, however, if they can prove the tenant lied on the application, or if the lease requires the tenant to have legal status, Ward said.
But landlords who are not thorough in their screening are pretty much stuck with them, he said.
Marshall said he is working with the Lexington Fair Housing Council to develop guidelines for landlords. Landlords must be careful, he said, because they have to treat each applicant the same; they can't give an applicant more scrutiny just for being Hispanic or foreign.
Hash is worried the Hadden case will lead to illegal evictions and homelessness for illegal immigrants. But she said she has not heard reports of that yet.
Nonetheless, the Hadden case raises several red flags, said Jody Williams, president of the Greater Lexington Apartment Association. The apparently relaxed to non-existent screening policy at the complexes is alarming. It seems to support the claim that the men were knowingly renting to illegal immigrants, she said.
All landlords, Williams said, should require identification, Social Security numbers and credit histories.
"Otherwise, they're not doing their responsibility to protect their communities," she said.
News researcher Linda Niemi contributed to this story. Reach Brandon Ortiz at (859) 231-1443, or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1443.
CHARGES OF HARBORING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 'FUEL A PHOBIA'
By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Immigration activists and the ACLU are accusing the federal government of overreaching in the prosecution of two Lexington landlords who had rented to 60 illegal immigrants.
The case, possibly the first of its kind in Kentucky, potentially places landlords in the uneasy situation of being on the front lines of the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration. It's a task that opens the door for discrimination claims and is something landlords are not trained to do, say civil libertarians and lawyers for landlords and immigrants.
The charges, says Michael Aldridge of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, are an attempt by the federal government to intimidate landlords and immigrants.
"It fuels a phobia, it creates this feeling of discrimination in the community, and I am sure it heightens everyone's uneasiness across the board," said Aldridge, the group's executive director. "It's a horrible situation."
Father and son landlords William Jerry Hadden and Jamey Hadden are accused of harboring illegal immigrants from 2000 to November 2007 at the Woodridge Apartments and Cross Keys Apartments in Lexington. Authorities said they were renting to 60 illegal immigrants.
The charges elicited cheers on conservative blogs and talk radio. Anti-immigration activists see it as a bold new front in the crackdown that will discourage illegal immigrants from settling in Lexington.
Businesses that profit from illegal immigration, they say, should be punished.
But civil libertarians and advocates for immigrants are alarmed by the case.
They note the Haddens were charged even though it is not illegal to rent to undocumented immigrants. Outside of landlords who accept federal Section 8 housing subsidies, landlords have no obligation to check a tenant's legal status.
"That is why these charges are so shocking," said Cori Hash, a lawyer for the Immigrant Rights Project at the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic. "When I heard about it, my jaw dropped."
On Feb. 29, a federal grand jury in Lexington indicted the Haddens on 32 criminal charges, including harboring, conspiracy, money laundering and encouraging and inducing illegal immigrants to live in the United States.
The majority of counts stem from 60 illegal immigrants the Haddens had rented to. Authorities say the men harbored illegal immigrants from 2000 to November 2007. The allegations might technically fall under the legal definition of harboring, Aldridge said. But the Hadden case goes far beyond the law's original intent, he said.
The charges aren't likely to hold up in court, Hash said. Harboring laws were intended to target human traffickers or employers who are trying to hide their work forces.
But the indictment alleges that the Haddens did far more than simply rent to illegal immigrants.
According to the indictment, the Haddens knowingly hired two Mexican citizens to manage the apartments and weakened their application process to accommodate illegal immigrants. They stopped requiring credit checks, Social Security numbers, past addresses, employment history and references for applicants, ostensibly so illegal immigrants would not be rejected for apartments.
One of the employees would encourage undocumented applicants who did not have Social Security numbers to provide IRS tax identification numbers instead, according to the indictment. The tax numbers are used to process tax returns for illegal immigrants.
Applications were translated into Spanish. And after Kentucky Utilities started requiring Social Security numbers to obtain electrical service, the apartment complexes opened accounts in their names and distributed the billing statements to tenants.
This concealed the identities of tenants, according to the indictment.
Officials at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago could not point to any similar cases where landlords had been prosecuted.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gail Montenegro declined to comment on the Hadden case since it is pending in U.S. District Court in Lexington.
"Anyone who is knowingly harboring, or housing or transporting illegal aliens is subject to criminal prosecution," Montenegro said. "They shouldn't be surprised if they are facing criminal charges."
The Haddens' attorney, Tucker Richardson of Lexington, declined to comment. But he has said he will aggressively fight the charges.
News of the charges against the Haddens made landlords all over town uneasy, said Stephen Marshall, a Lexington attorney who represents several landlords.
Marshall said he received several phone calls from concerned clients.
It places landlords in a particular bind, Lexington lawyer Charlie Ward says, because they do not have grounds to evict a tenant simply because he or she is undocumented.
Landlords do have grounds, however, if they can prove the tenant lied on the application, or if the lease requires the tenant to have legal status, Ward said.
But landlords who are not thorough in their screening are pretty much stuck with them, he said.
Marshall said he is working with the Lexington Fair Housing Council to develop guidelines for landlords. Landlords must be careful, he said, because they have to treat each applicant the same; they can't give an applicant more scrutiny just for being Hispanic or foreign.
Hash is worried the Hadden case will lead to illegal evictions and homelessness for illegal immigrants. But she said she has not heard reports of that yet.
Nonetheless, the Hadden case raises several red flags, said Jody Williams, president of the Greater Lexington Apartment Association. The apparently relaxed to non-existent screening policy at the complexes is alarming. It seems to support the claim that the men were knowingly renting to illegal immigrants, she said.
All landlords, Williams said, should require identification, Social Security numbers and credit histories.
"Otherwise, they're not doing their responsibility to protect their communities," she said.
News researcher Linda Niemi contributed to this story. Reach Brandon Ortiz at (859) 231-1443, or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1443.
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