Some apartment leasing offices in Oklahoma City say Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are showing up asking for tenant information, saying they are doing “welfare checks” to make sure kids are not being trafficked, according to reports.
Oklahoma is among other states, including Georgia, where immigration authorities are demanding landlords turn over leases and rental applications, and even want them to provide forwarding addresses.
ICE agents seek tenant information
On Wednesday, leasing office staff in Oklahoma City told News 9 that ICE agents came into their office saying they were doing welfare checks to make sure kids were not being trafficked. Leasing office staff declined to give their names out of fear of retaliation.
Oklahoma Sen. Michael Brooks-Jimenez, who is a lawyer and a Democrat, said he is aware that something similar is happening.
Brooks-Jimenez said, “ICE officers are showing up, and they’re – they’re going to the leasing offices and asking for tenant information, the leases, and they’re saying that they’re doing welfare calls.”
Brooks-Jimenez said this makes him suspicious. He added, ” I would anticipate that landlords wouldn’t be able to share this type of information without a subpoena.”
One leasing office told News 9 that ICE officers showed up and were looking in different apartments and car windows.
Brooks-Jimenez adds that the area is a part of town that is heavily populated with Central Americans.
He said it makes sense that this is an area being targeted but also said many of these people had received temporary protected status, allowing them to work for a period of time. “President Trump has begun to terminate that status in those programs. And so as a result, those people are now here without permission,” added Brooks-Jimenez.
He adds that tenants, regardless of where they are from, have a right to privacy and they do not have to open their doors.
ICE agents sometimes show up with subpoenas in leasing offices.
Denise Holliday, an Arizona attorney, noted that ICE commonly issues administrative subpoenas that can feel a bit intimidating but she encourages all business owners to learn the difference between a court-ordered subpoena and an administrative subpoena and create a policy under which they will response to ICE-related communications.
