Fourth Circuit Holds Against Landlord in Case Involving Exploitation of Undocumented Immigrants

The Legal Aid Justice Center have good news from the Fourth Circuit on a case involving the exploitation of undocumented immigrants.    

 

For nearly eight years, the Center has been fighting on behalf of four families who were eventually forced to leave their homes in a manufactured home park because one spouse could not prove lawful immigration presence and because their landlord charged these families higher rents. Earlier this week, the Center received an important victory from the Fourth Circuit in Reyes v. Waples Mobile Home Park. 

The case involved whether the defendants could show a “business necessity” for their policy of denying residents the ability to live in the park due to immigration status. Defendants had argued that they would be at risk of breaking a federal anti-harboring statute by allowing them to reside in their park.  The Fourth Circuit rejected that argument, finding that the statute did not apply in these circumstances.   The court noted that defendants did not act like a party worried about harboring: instead of evicting immigrant tenants who were unable to meet the proof of lawful immigration presence requirement, the landlord simply raised their rent. 

The Legal Aid Justice Center partnered on the appeal with Zuckerman Spaeder.   A number of amicus briefs were filed, including by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

KJ