by Mish Shedlock, The Maven:
State Sen. Christina Castro introduced a bill last session to prevent illegal alien reporting. It passed both houses but was vetoed by Rauner.
Rauner rightly concluded that such a bill would violate federal laws. I believe it would be unconstitutional to boot.
With a new governor Castro is back at it.
“This bill is to allow our immigrant communities to feel safe and not retaliated against based on what their immigration status is,” she said.
Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said the bill entirely blocks landlords from reporting illegal immigrants to the authorities.
“You are telling your landlords ‘no, you can’t say a word to anyone in law enforcement about that individual,’” he said. “Is there any other area that you can think of in state policy where you would so tie a landlord’s hands?”
The bill now awaits House consideration.
California has a law that prohibits landlords from asking tenants about their immigration status. There’s an effort in Washington D.C.to charge a landlord guilty of reporting a tenant to immigration with felony extortion.
Making It a Felony to Report a Crime
Illegal aliens are here illegally, by definition.
In the twisted minds of Democrats, it is “discrimination” to report crimes to authorities.
In Illinois, Castro’s bill would allow a tenant to sue the landlord for up to $2,000 in civil court.
The Illinois law has little bite. For starters, how would anyone even know who reported the tenant to authorities. Secondly, the landlord could have a third party do the reporting. Third, the fine is a mere $2,000 and the illegal alien would have to initiate a lawsuit.
That’s not going to happen. Rather, Castro’s law is little more than a symbolic and futile effort to intimidate landlords.
The same of course applies in D.C. Just have someone else do the reporting. But that involves another person who might snitch. Then your apartment building is bombarded with protesters and picketers for weeks.
Especially in D.C. where a felony charge awaits, it’s probably best to report anonymously yourself because the potential consequences are severe.
Public Service
Here’s the curious thing about all this. There is no fool-proof way to know if someone is here illegally, unless the person tells you.
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