Fortune reported on the 15th that immigration authorities began to subpoena landlords to hand over tenants’ rental contracts, rental applications, contact addresses, IDs and other information to cooperate with the Trump administration’s expansion of deportation operations.
Atlanta-area real estate lawyer Eric Teusink said that many clients have recently received subpoenas to hand over tenant information. Rental information may include tenants’ employment records, marital status, family relationships, etc.
The Associated Press reported that Teusink obtained a two-page “information enforcement subpoena” that also required landlords to hand over relevant information about tenants living with them. The subpoena was issued by the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), but there was no signature of a judge.
Fortune magazine reported that the process of issuing subpoenas needs to be clarified, but it highlights the Trump administration’s new means of tracking down undocumented immigrants. After undocumented immigrants enter the United States illegally, even if they do not have a legal visa, they still need an address to start a new life.
Legal experts and real estate managers said that subpoenas without a judge’s signature may be challenged legally because if landlords comply with the subpoena, they may risk violating the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against tenants based on race, color, nationality, etc.
Critics say that landlords may feel threatened when they are asked to comply with subpoenas without a judge’s signature, and tenants may be unaware that their private information is leaked and controlled by immigration authorities.
“Overcompliance is the danger,” said Stacy Seicshnaydre, a law professor at Tulane University. She said that although landlords receive subpoenas, the requirements in the subpoenas are not necessarily legal.
The Fraud Detection and National Security Division of the U.S. Nationality and Immigration Service, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is a unit under the Department of Homeland Security.
The subpoena states that although the subpoena is not issued by a judge, if the landlord does not cooperate, he may be prosecuted for contempt of court by the judge in the future.
Boston real estate lawyer Jordana Roubicek Greenman said a landlord received a voice message from an ICE agent last month asking him to hand over tenant information. Greenman said she has told her client not to respond.
