In her total legislation profession, Sarah McCracken has by no means seen something like the e-mail she obtained on June 25.
McCracken, a tenants’ rights lawyer at Tobener Ravenscroft, is at present 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.
Just a few weeks after being served, amid a collection of ICE raids primarily focusing on Latino communities in L.A. County, Rod Fehlman, the lawyer who gave the impression to be representing the agent on the time, despatched McCracken’s crew a collection of emails disputing the lawsuit and urging them to drop the case.
He ended the correspondence with this: “Additionally it is fascinating to notice that your purchasers are more likely to be picked up by ICE and deported previous to trial because of all the great work the Trump administration has executed with regard to immigration in California.”
“It’s racist,” McCracken mentioned. “Not solely is it unethical and possibly unlawful, nevertheless it’s only a actually wild factor to say — particularly since my purchasers are U.S. residents.”
The remark arrived as ICE raises tensions between landlords and Latino tenants. Based on 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’s unlawful in California to discriminate in opposition to tenants or to harass or retaliate in opposition to a tenant by disclosing their immigration standing to legislation enforcement.”
Fehlman didn’t reply to requests for remark, nor did the purchasers he appeared 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 grievance utilizing a unique legislation agency.
However in keeping with 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 apartment in Baldwin Park, which she shared along with her husband, three kids and grandson. Based on her wrongful eviction lawsuit filed in Could, the home had a slew of issues: defective electrical energy, leaks within the toilet, dangerous air flow, and a damaged heater, air-conditioning unit and storage door.
“There was so much that wanted to be mounted, however we accepted it as a result of we have been simply pleased to discover a place to stay,” Morales mentioned.
The actual issues began in 2024, when her landlord, Celia Ruiz, began asking the household to depart as a result of she wished to promote the property, which isn’t a legitimate cause for eviction beneath California legislation or Baldwin Park’s Simply Trigger Eviction Ordinance, the swimsuit mentioned.
Based on the lawsuit, Ruiz then modified her story, alleging that she wished to maneuver into the home herself, which might be a legitimate cause for eviction. Based on the swimsuit, Ruiz and her actual property agent, David Benavides of Majesty One Properties, continually urged Morales and her household to depart.
In September, the strain mounted. Ruiz penned a handwritten notice saying she wanted the home again, and Benavides started calling them virtually day by day, the swimsuit mentioned.
In November, assuming Ruiz wanted to maneuver again in, Morales left. However as a substitute of shifting in herself, Ruiz put the property in the marketplace in January and bought it by March.
“I actually believed she wanted the home for herself,” Morales mentioned. “I’m simply uninterested in individuals making the most of others.”
Lawyer ways
Relying in your interpretation of California’s Enterprise and Professions Code, Fehlman’s remark could possibly be unlawful, McCracken mentioned. Part 6103.7 says attorneys might be suspended, disbarred or disciplined in the event that they “report suspected immigration standing or threaten to report suspected immigration standing of a witness or celebration to a civil or administrative motion.”
As well as, the State Bar of California bans attorneys from threatening to current prison, administrative or disciplinary costs to acquire a bonus in a civil dispute.
You could possibly argue that Fehlman’s e mail isn’t a menace. He by no means mentioned he’d name ICE himself, solely claiming that Morales and her household “are more likely to be picked up by ICE and deported.”
Morales and her total household are all U.S. residents. However she mentioned she feels racially profiled due to her final title.
“It’s not honest for him to reap the benefits of that,” she mentioned. “I used to be born right here. I’ve a start certificates. I pay taxes.”
Simply to be protected, Morales despatched her start certificates to McCracken’s crew. Though she’s a citizen, if Fehlman experiences her to ICE, she nonetheless doesn’t really feel protected.
Federal brokers have arrested U.S. residents throughout its latest raids throughout L.A, and a 2018 investigation by The Occasions discovered that ICE has arrested almost 1,500 U.S. residents since 2012, detaining some for years at a time.
“I used to be already depressed over the eviction. Now I’m damage, embarrassed and nervous as properly. Will he actually name ICE on us?” Morales mentioned.
McCracken mentioned Fehlman’s message is a byproduct of the present anti-immigrant political surroundings. Fehlman despatched the e-mail on June 25, the top of a jarring month that noticed the company arrest 2,031 individuals throughout seven counties in Southern California, 68% of which had no prison convictions.
“Folks appear to be emboldened to flout the legislation as a result of they see individuals on the prime doing it,” she mentioned. “It’s completely unacceptable habits.”
An ironic twist, she added, is that Fehlman’s personal consumer on the time was additionally Latino.
“I don’t know if Benavides was conscious that his lawyer is making racially profiling feedback, however I don’t assume he’d wish to work with somebody like that,” McCracken mentioned.
The case remains to be in its early levels. Benavides and Majesty One Properties responded to the grievance 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 attainable menace didn’t warrant a response, and Fehlman hasn’t mentioned the rest within the meantime. Her crew remains to be deciding how they wish to proceed within the wake of the remark, which might justify authorized motion.
She referred to as it a harmful try to relax her consumer’s speech and a failed try and intimidate her into dropping the case. However he took it means too far.
“We’re at a cut-off date the place attorneys should be upholding the rule of legislation,” she mentioned. “Particularly in a time like this.”
