A national Latino legal and civil rights organization is suing a property management company, alleging it a young woman in New Jersey access to rental units based solely on her immigration status as a DACA recipient.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, better known as MALDEF, filed the federal lawsuit last week on behalf of Khrysta De Guzman, who has been a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, for the past eight years.
Under DACA, nearly 580,000 undocumented young adults who came to the U.S. as children — most of them Latino — are granted employment authorization cards and Social Security numbers, which allow them to work and study without fear of deportation. Their DACA status must be renewed every two years.
“Housing discrimination against DACA recipients is not only irrational, it is unlawful,” Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF’s president and general counsel, said in a statement. “Our economy — and our humanity — are distorted and diminished when we allow such discrimination to occur.”
Last year, De Guzman and her fiancé, a U.S. citizen, submitted an application to rent an apartment in New Jersey operated by Altman Management Co. Their application was denied after the property management company deemed De Guzman's government-issued employment authorization card to be insufficient, further insisting she provide a valid permanent resident card or visa, both of which are immigration documents DACA recipients don't have, according to the lawsuit.
The couple had hoped to move closer to De Guzman's school to cut her one-hour commute and start to build a stable life together before they got married, adjusting De Guzman’s immigration status shortly thereafter.
After their first denial, the couple applied to rent another New Jersey apartment that happened to be operated by the same property management company. The couple got a phone call from a leasing consultant at the apartment complex informing them that their application had been denied because "De Guzman did not provide additional documentation requested by Altman Management," the lawsuit says.
“These denials have resulted in another frozen chapter of my life,” De Guzman, 25, said in a statement. “It serves to remind us DACA holders that we aren’t fully accepted by U.S. society. Despite working, paying taxes and contributing to the economy.”
In addition to going to college, De Guzman works as a warehouse associate. DACA recipients like her have contributed $108 billion to the U.S. economy, as well as $33 billion in combined taxes, since DACA started in 2012, according to the immigration advocacy group FWD.us.
Court records don't yet show an attorney for Altman Management Co. It did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Altman Management is a Pennsylvania-based construction company that operates nearly 80 apartment communities in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to the lawsuit.
MALDEF attorneys are seeking a class certification to represent others who may have applied or tried to apply to rent apartments operated by Altman and were denied full and equal consideration because of their immigration status.
“Landlords cannot penalize renters because of their alienage,” Luis Lozada, a MALDEF attorney on the case, said in a statement. “Defendants’ discriminatory acts adversely affect DACA recipients and immigrants where they can live and work.”
