Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > October > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWould ban on renting to illegals make sense here?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett has something in common with Escondido, Calif.
It’s illegal immigration.
In this California community, though, there’s at least one distinct difference. The city’s leaders, weary of the federal government’s doublespeak and wordplay when it comes to immigration reform, have taken matters into their own hands.
They’ve hunkered down.
On Wednesday, by a 3-2 vote, the City Council approved an ordinance that bans landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. Barring legal challenges — and there will be some — the prohibition will take effect Nov. 18, according to wire stories.
Under the law, landlords will be required to submit to the city documentation of their tenants’ immigration status. The city, in return, will pass the information on to the feds for verification.
If the tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords will have 10 days to evict them or face a business license suspension. Repeat offenders could incur misdemeanor charges and fines.
Anyone who suspects someone is renting to illegals can file a complaint. But complaints based solely on a person’s national origin, race or ethnicity won’t be allowed. (It’s unclear how this will be verified.)
Escondido has followed the lead of a handful of cities across the United States that have adopted renters laws. Other communities probably are weighing similar feel good, stopgap, legal and morally debatable steps to curb the presence and flow of undocumented workers.
It’s easy to sympathize and empathize with members of this work force. They’re merely pawns of our government, our employers and, in many ways, our materialistic zest. The ramifications of the issue extend beyond Jose’s soliciting work at the Dunkin’ Donuts store, though.
In education, crowding and language issues tax schools. In hospitals, emergency rooms become de facto health care providers. And in subdivisions, where cultural differences can ignite clashes about code compliance, neighborliness has become even more of an anomaly.
Talk to people, real people who live in working-class and middle-class neighborhoods. Sympathy and empathy for low-wage (illegal) immigrant laborers is evaporating. Vanishing. A segment of that population believes their American dream has been hijacked, that it’s going the way of the Edsel.
In a poll conducted Sept. 27-29 for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 90 percent of the respondents said illegal immigration was important to them in their choice for governor.
People are either fed up or close to it. They want grass-roots action, and in some towns and municipalities, officials apparently don’t mind testing the fire, of being called racist, divisive, discriminatory.
Escondido has a population of about 142,000, about 40 percent of whom are Hispanic. It’s unclear how many of the town’s residents are illegal, something that’s hard to pinpont here as well.
Georgia is home to what the Department of Homeland Security calls the nation’s fastest-growing population of illegal immigrants, estimated at 250,000 to 800,000.
Gwinnett’s immigrant population is estimated at nearly 172,000.
I don’t know what to make of the town’s rental ban or similar ordinances in other communities. Part of me embraces the crackdowns, deems them necessary. Another part of me gives pause because I think some of the get-rid-of-the-illegals rants stem from (white America’s) xenophobia.
So I pose a question to you:
Would you support a county law, or one in any of its municipalities, that prohibits landlords from renting to illegal immigrants?
Comments
By Georgia Native
October 20, 2006 07:59 PM | Link to this
I usually have an opinion but I am actually stumped by this question.
Yes, something immediately needs to be done about the overwhelming number of people living in Gwinnett illegally. I agree with all the statements made about the overcrowding of schools, hospitals etc. I also agree with the language barrier, job issues and a host of other touchy situations that make us angry.
No, people shouldn’t be treated in a way that deprives someone of their basic needs like food, shelter, medication and clothing. Even a jail gives people these four things.
My viewpoint is to rent to these people but make it so the landlords can only rent for a week or so at a time. Make it where payment is due in advance and the contract be only for the week. No renewals.
Please know that I am not against anybody making a better life for themselves but just do it legally.
By Samuel
October 20, 2006 10:48 PM | Link to this
The problem is that a 2 bedroom unit can have 20 bedrolls in it. This is a very dangerous situation. The Landlords like it , they charge more and the illegals pay it in cash on time. We suffer though. Crime has skyrocketed in this county. Our county jail nightly houses many of these illegals. It is way way way out of control such that it is detrimentally effecting our property values, our schools and our traffic. REmember how great the day was when they all stayed home? NO TRAFFIC!!!!! I say fine the Landlords if they cannot produce paper showing these people are here legitimately . Make it a stiff fine. Fire depts should do something about over occupancy of houses or apts.
By Bill W
October 21, 2006 03:50 AM | Link to this
We don’t need new laws when simply enforcing current laws will solve the problem. Just strictly enforce the laws that say it is illegal to hire an undocumented worker. If they have no place to work, they will have no need to live here.
By charles b
October 21, 2006 07:58 AM | Link to this
That is a very good orwellian idea.what’s next?,everytime you purchase food,you have to be registered to make sure you are legal to eat.All that does is expand the role of government to intrude even further in your life.Big brother is watching you.Your rights as a citizen is being eroded every single day,you have no such thing as privacy.What need to be done is to enforce the labor laws to make sure that everyone who is working is legal.This is not old style communist russia.When are we going to stop passing laws that keep on erode our rights as americans?
By ed lorenzo
October 21, 2006 08:20 AM | Link to this
I asked God about this problem. You know what he said?
“Since I evicted those two from the garden of eden, you people have created nothing but problems for yourselves. As long as there is excessive inequality among you people you will be asking for problems. Illegal immigration is one of them!”
“Yeah, but what can we do about it?”
“Don’t ask me. You never paid any attention to me. Ask your doctor!”
By Regularjoe
October 21, 2006 09:03 AM | Link to this
Charles B.
You lost me. Are you talking about citizens or illegal immigrants? In a nutshell, you should be able to rent to legal residents. Renting to illegal immigrants is against the law. That is what you are trying to say?
Would we have an illegal immigrant problem if we didn’t have criminal lawbreakers, mostly whites folks, hiring and renting to illegal immigrants?
90 percent of the people polled said illegal immigration is a problem for them. How many of these same people have hired or rented to illegals? Know of a friend or family member who has hired or rented to illegals?
By Mark
October 21, 2006 12:08 PM | Link to this
Thousands of illegals were at the march last weekend. Where were the paddy wagons?? They are criminals, and were ignored. Good job, Gwinnett county!
By anonymousella
October 21, 2006 02:21 PM | Link to this
banning illegals would probably drive many to sleep in vans instead. so then they’d be illegal and homeless. and who, pray tell, would mow the lawns of the very people trying so hard to get rid of these immigrants? (because in order to emigrate legally, you have to be a skilled laborer.)
the real answer is far larger than the municipal level and involves working with mexico’s government to provide economic opportunity there so folks stop coming here.
but since mexico’s elite are kind of like the elite’s here — they don’t give a flying flip about anyone but people like them or anything but how to make more money, even if its at the expense of their fellow citizen’s security and stability — good luck making that happen.
By Rodney A Stanton
October 21, 2006 02:26 PM | Link to this
Once again the Federal Govt pretends a real problem is not a problem. Crime is a problem. No matter what the President says. Escondido understands that lawlessness leads to a lower standard of living; even if Bush says he does not understand it. I think Bush is teling lies on this issue.
Rod Stanton Cerritos, Cal
By Jo macDougal
October 21, 2006 04:01 PM | Link to this
The liberal in the White House (for whom I voted) shows his true leftist colors on the issue of criminal aliens. A pardon of 12,000,000 criminals?! No wonder the GOP will lose seats in both houses!
By YES!!!!!
October 22, 2006 01:37 AM | Link to this
Ever ridden through any of these rental properties?? Broken down cars, broken window glass, trash EVERYWHERE -LOTS of empty beer bottles laying around…… what was I doing there? Looking to repo the cars, that are Not paid for, but, but, but - they all got satellite tv dishes….WHAT is wrong with this picture???
By Jim Gates
October 22, 2006 08:52 AM | Link to this
We have adequete laws on the books to resolve the illegal issue. Let us start enforcing them. When contacting Gwinnett County officials about specific homes that are havens for illegals the standard cop out is that the evidence of the illegals residing at that property can only be gathered after 5PM…. And our enforcers knock off for the day at 5! We are allowing our county to be destroyed by criminal invaders. I suggest that we quit talking about it and take action….now! Jim Gates
By Bruce Wilcox
October 22, 2006 08:43 PM | Link to this
Well Congress approved a fence along the Mexican boarder, sent in the National Guard to watch the Boarder Patrol. The State passed a law that punishes illegals for attempting to better themselves while giving the employers who hire them a slap on the wrist. Looks like local governments have to take on responsibility.
Roswell limits the number of people who can reside in a home, the details I do not have a clue on and I have no idea how it can be enforced? One thing we can do is check the legal residence of school children in Gwinnett. Other counties have done this and have saved a lot of money by identifying who should not be attending our schools.
Many of these homes are disasters waiting to happen, all it will take is one fire with a high death toll and we’ll all say how did we allow this to happen?
I do not make the laws, the Gwinnett County officials do, hey there is an election coming up soon, maybe we should all do our homework and see what they have done to address these problems?
By Janet_G
October 22, 2006 09:18 PM | Link to this
Immigration is what made this country so great, however, illegal immigration is destroying it. We, the working class, are literally being overrun. The MYTH that illegals do jobs that Americans don’t want has been disproven when illegal immigrants are removed from the picture, as in recent raids in south Georgia, employers must raise their wages and Americans then line up for jobs. Illegal immigrants depress wages for jobs that blue collar Americans used to fill. Construction jobs used to pay fairly well in Atlanta. Now that illegal immigrants make up an estimated 40% of the construction work force (a low estimate, I might add), wages for construction workers have dropped dramatically. Construction companies that refuse to hire illegals can’t compete with those that do and risk going out of business.
Quality of life for working class Americans has dropped dramatically too. Neighborhoods that were once filled with people who took pride in their homes and yards, knew their neighbors and knew the names of the kids that lived there, are now filled with children and adults who do not speak any english, live 15 to 20 people in one house, and have 12 cars, work trucks and vans parked everywhere. Americans who have worked hard, abided by the laws and paid their taxes all of their lives have to just sit back and watch as the value of their home, the largest investment they will ever make, goes down or stagnates.
A good bit of the money that these people make does not go into the American economy because they pay no taxes other than sales tax and a good portion of their income is sent home to Mexico each week.
All of this might be typical of any legal immigrant family until they assimilate, however, these immigrants have no intention of assimilating and the sheer volume of their numbers also works against assimilation.
The upper echelons of our society don’t get it because it’s not their neighborhood or their home that is being devalued. It’s not their neighborhood school that spends so much time and money trying to teach the children of illegal immigrants to speak english that they shortchange the children of Americans and legal immigrants of a good education.
Washington is going to get a wake up call this election from liberals and conservatives alike, because the middle class in this country is fed up with their inaction and unwillingness to do something. I personally, am sick to death of hearing about congress members and other politicians who are inept, ineffective, corrupt or just don’t get it. This election, they will all be hearing from me.
By Pam
October 23, 2006 09:55 AM | Link to this
Yes, I will support a ban on renting to illegals and I will vote for any candidate that states they will make this happen.
By linda
October 23, 2006 02:02 PM | Link to this
First of all, I agree with what Janet said….great job. Ofcourse, banning renting to illegals would make sense. We complain about the burden these people have put on our systems. All of these complaints can be backed up by facts. Look at the burden they have placed on our law enforcement officials-language barriers, the judicial system-needing translators (at OUR expense). Not to mention our health and welfare system. These people live many to an apartment. They take advantage of our school system destroying our legal citizens, aka Americans born here to Americans, the right to education. When there are elementary schools where the hispanics are the majority, the few English speaking children are deprived of the full benefits of school because the teachers have to take time out for those who don’t speak English. Then they have to deal with the non-English speaking parents….translators needed.
Renting to illegals should be made illegal. Why is ILLEGAL such a difficult word for people to understand? These people DON’T belong here to begin with.
The money hungry apartments are too willing to rent to ANYONE. All they care about is the money. If they had to contribute to the education system for the burden they are placing on it with all the extra residents, they might think about things.
Note, most of the apartments(especially around the Graves Rd/S Norcross Tucker/JCB corridor)is a major example. I’m sure they have ALOT of illegals. Check the sheriff’s arrest log. The Police are OVERBURDENED by people who shouldn’t be here to begin with.
It’s public knowledge. Most no tag/license /insurance/dui etc. You can’t tell me all these people are legal. I have lived where houses were “bought” by “legals” (until foreclosure 2-3 yrs down the road). They would have family(ies) move in and out. Broken down cars, By the time they were through the houses, most were sold AS IS….and they were foreclosures.
We have Americans who are out of work. If they need work, they will go back to these jobs such as landscaping, construction, etc. They worked them before,did a great job and went home to the family in the suburbs. Then the “illegals” took over…and they were put of their jobs. Their home in the suburbs became a nightmare. Prices keep going up even though companies are getting cheap labor. And it shows. Quality workmanship has been replaced by quantity jobs. Whoever can pick up the most workers at the station on the corner. It is too much trouble for the landlords, mainly apartments, to check if the applicant is legal or not. All they want is money and the property rented out.
“Would you support a county law, or one in any of its municipalities, that prohibits landlords from renting to illegal immigrants??” ABSOLUTELY YES!!! Not only do I say YES, but FINE them.
We must start with those who are so money hungry they will rent to illegals. They should be considered as a “party to the crime” and treated as such.
Until we stop allowing these illegals to rent and penalize those who rent to them will we even begin to get a grip on the situation. We must learn from California. They have been plaqued by illegals for years. They are on the right track. If the county does not present this to the public for a vote, then I feel they are not concerned about their citizens.
In fact, this should be presented as a State requirement, not just county.
By jodi
October 23, 2006 05:00 PM | Link to this
I absolutely will support the idea of banning illegals from renting. I don’t know why they didn’t think of it years ago! Gwinnett is going down the drain faster then we can even watch it do so. Yes, people need shelter, but as much money as illegals make (since it’s all tax-free we must remember - and no they don’t get measly pay - I’m in construction, so I know) they can afford the fees associated with earning a legal status for themselves and their families, and then they can be allowed to rent as LEGAL citizens. Where might they stay in the meantime some think? Ever been in a neighborhood with 20 illegals in one house? (of course, we are in Gwinnett after all) That’s because at least one of them took the time and effort to gain legal status and purchase a home.
I think some serious affirmative action needs to be taken, before the county reaches a point of demise so terrible it cannot be corrected.
By Raoul West
October 26, 2006 08:42 AM | Link to this
Yes yes yes, It also should be illegal to give a mortgage or business license to anybody who isn’t in this country legally
By aa
October 26, 2006 09:12 AM | Link to this
I agree, thats great law….it needs to be here in the whole state of georgia
By Norman Wolfrom
November 3, 2006 09:42 AM | Link to this
I live in a small Arizona town of Sedona we have a mobile home community with about 15 dumpy trailers and about 150-175 living in them. The owner charges by the person per night—-her monthly income is about $26,000 according to a news paper article—-also along the street each morning they are standing out front for day work.