An immigrant couple in Chicago will be awarded more than $80,000 in damages after their former landlords threatened to call ICE on them. A judge ruled that the landlords violated Illinois’ Immigrant Tenant Protection Act of 2019.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (Maldef), which represented the couple, said this case marks the first judgment under the state law. The law prohibits landlords from discriminating against or harassing tenants based on their immigration status and bans them from threatening to report tenants to ICE for retaliation.
On February 19, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Catherine A. Schneider ordered landlords Marco Antonio Contreras and Denise Contreras to pay damages, legal fees, and costs to former tenants Maria Maltos Escutia and Gabriel Valdez Garcia.
The couple filed a lawsuit in 2022, claiming that the Contrerases threatened to report them to ICE to harass and intimidate them into paying rent and leaving the apartment. The landlords could not be reached for comment.
Maltos Escutia and Valdez Garcia said in a statement that they spoke out because no one should be allowed to make such threats. “We are all equals and deserve respect,” they said.
The ruling is seen as a significant victory for tenants in Illinois, one of three states with laws protecting immigrant tenants’ rights. California and Colorado have similar laws.
Maldef’s president, Thomas Saenz, called the decision “a measure of justice” and said it sends a message that violating tenant protections will have serious consequences.
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