McCracken, a tenants’ rights lawyer at Tobener Ravenscroft, is at the moment representing a Latino household suing a landlord and actual property agent for unlawful eviction after being kicked out of their Baldwin Park house final 12 months.
He ended the correspondence with this: “It is also interesting to note that your clients are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial thanks to all the good work the Trump administration has done in regards to immigration in California.”
“It’s racist,” McCracken stated. “Not only is it unethical and probably illegal, but it’s just a really wild thing to say — especially since my clients are U.S. citizens.”
The remark arrived as ICE raises tensions between landlords and Latino tenants. In accordance with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, ICE has been pressuring some landlords to report their tenants’ immigration standing.
Bonta’s workplace issued a shopper alert on Tuesday reminding landlords that “it is illegal in California to discriminate against tenants or to harass or retaliate against a tenant by disclosing their immigration status to law enforcement.”
Fehlman didn’t reply to requests for remark, nor did the purchasers he gave the impression to be representing: actual property agent David Benavides and brokerage Majesty One Properties, Inc. Fehlman’s position within the case is unclear; following requests for remark from The Occasions, Benavides and the brokerage responded to McCracken’s criticism utilizing a unique regulation agency.
However in response to McCracken, Fehlman serves because the defendants’ private lawyer and can seemingly nonetheless participate within the lawsuit in an advisory position.
Evicted
From 2018 to 2024, Yicenia Morales rented a two-bedroom rental in Baldwin Park, which she shared along with her husband, three kids and grandson. In accordance with her wrongful eviction lawsuit filed in Could, the home had a slew of issues: defective electrical energy, leaks within the toilet, unhealthy air flow, and a damaged heater, air-conditioning unit and storage door.
“There was a lot that needed to be fixed, but we accepted it because we were just happy to find a place to live,” Morales stated.
The actual issues began in 2024, when her landlord, Celia Ruiz, began asking the household to go away as a result of she needed to promote the property, which isn’t a legitimate motive for eviction beneath California regulation or Baldwin Park’s Simply Trigger Eviction Ordinance, the go well with stated.
In accordance with the lawsuit, Ruiz then modified her story, alleging that she needed to maneuver into the home herself, which might be a legitimate motive for eviction. In accordance with the go well with, Ruiz and her actual property agent, David Benavides of Majesty One Properties, continuously urged Morales and her household to go away.
In September, the strain mounted. Ruiz penned a handwritten notice saying she wanted the home again, and Benavides started calling them virtually day-after-day, the go well with stated.
In November, assuming Ruiz wanted to maneuver again in, Morales left. However as an alternative of transferring in herself, Ruiz put the property in the marketplace in January and bought it by March.
“I really believed she needed the house for herself,” Morales stated. “I’m just tired of people taking advantage of others.”
Lawyer techniques
Relying in your interpretation of California’s Enterprise and Professions Code, Fehlman’s remark might be unlawful, McCracken stated. Part 6103.7 says attorneys will be suspended, disbarred or disciplined in the event that they “report suspected immigration status or threaten to report suspected immigration status of a witness or party to a civil or administrative action.”
As well as, the State Bar of California bans attorneys from threatening to current prison, administrative or disciplinary prices to acquire a bonus in a civil dispute.
Morales and her total household are all U.S. residents. However she stated she feels racially profiled due to her final title.
“It’s not fair for him to take advantage of that,” she stated. “I was born here. I have a birth certificate. I pay taxes.”
Simply to be secure, Morales despatched her beginning certificates to McCracken’s crew. Although she’s a citizen, if Fehlman reviews her to ICE, she nonetheless doesn’t really feel secure.
Federal brokers have arrested U.S. residents throughout its current raids throughout L.A, and a 2018 investigation by The Occasions discovered that ICE has arrested practically 1,500 U.S. residents since 2012, detaining some for years at a time.
“I was already depressed over the eviction. Now I’m hurt, embarrassed and nervous as well. Will he really call ICE on us?” Morales stated.
“People seem to be emboldened to flout the law because they see people at the top doing it,” she stated. “It’s totally unacceptable behavior.”
An ironic twist, she added, is that Fehlman’s personal consumer on the time was additionally Latino.
“I don’t know if Benavides was aware that his lawyer is making racially profiling comments, but I don’t think he’d want to work with someone like that,” McCracken stated.
The case remains to be in its early phases. Benavides and Majesty One Properties responded to the criticism on July 17, and McCracken’s crew hasn’t formally served the owner Ruiz but as a result of they’ve been unable to find her.
Within the wake of the ICE remark, communication between McCracken and Fehlman halted. McCracken determined Fehlman’s rant and potential menace didn’t warrant a response, and Fehlman hasn’t stated anything within the meantime. Her crew remains to be deciding how they need to proceed within the wake of the remark, which may justify authorized motion.
She known as it a harmful try to relax her consumer’s speech and a failed try to intimidate her into dropping the case. However he took it approach too far.
“We’re at a point in time where lawyers need to be upholding the rule of law,” she stated. “Especially in a time like this.”
