Some Dallas tenants complain their landlord has suddenly started rejecting leases for illegal immigrants who’d been living at the complex for years.
The Aberdeen at Bellmar Apartments in the 10800 block of North Central Expressway is run by Knightvest Management.
Three dozen people including leaders of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), protested against Knightvest at Dallas City Hall Wednesday. They want Mayor Mike Rawlings and Dallas City Council members to take action against the landlord.
“This is clear discrimination against families, especially immigrant families that have been living there for years already, paying rent every single month on time, being good residents,” said Danny Cendejas with TOP.
In Spanish, tenant Teresa Estrada tearful said that her children were forced to move to a different school after living at the complex for 11 years.
On a visit from NBC 5 Wednesday, the complex manager said all residents must complete the same rental application and meet Knightvest rental qualifications. She referred further questions to the Knightvest corporate office in Dallas which had not replied to NBC 5 e-mail and voice mail messages by late Wednesday.
The application includes a blank for Social Security numbers, which undocumented immigrants do not possess.
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In Spanish, tenant Elisa Garcia said she was asked to provide a Social Security number when renewing her lease after two years at the complex. She persuaded management to let her stay without the number because of a good payment history.
Cedejas has a copy of the Knightvest qualifications on which he said additional qualifications were handwritten for some Latino tenants at the bottom, including “US ID.” He said many immigrant residents do not have US ID’s but do have other forms of identification which had been acceptable at the complex in the past.
A sign at the complex advertises a total makeover with new appliances and interiors. Cendejas said interiors have only been improved after the Latino tenants moved out.
“It does feel like a Farmers Branch approach that this company is taking to bring in a new population to the apartments,” he said.
Dallas suburb Farmers Branch lost an expensive court battle over a law it passed requiring landlords to check tenant immigration status and rent only to documented residents.
Cendejas said the Dallas tenants are asking their city leaders to instead support Federal Equal Housing laws that forbid discrimination.
“Dallas is a city that gains tremendously from the immigrant community,” he said. “So the question is, 'What are you going to do about this?'”
A message to Rawlings' office was not returned Wednesday.
