State Sen. Jose Peralta said that the letter is a violation of the city’s Human Rights Law.
An Indian American landlord in New York’s Queens, who asked tenants to prove their immigration status to avoid eviction, has apologized and admitted that his action was wrong.
The tenants of all 23 apartments in a Corona building received a letter from their landlord, Jaideep Reddy, last week asking them to report at the building’s management office with Photo ID, Social Security card and proof of their status in the US, and proof of employment, New York Daily News reported.
“P.S If you fail to comply, your lease will not be renewed, we may have to terminate your lease and may have to evict you from the apartment,” the newspaper quoted the notice.
“That’s wrong, I’ll retract that. I’m sorry,” landlord Jaideep Reddy told the New York Daily News.
However, State Sen. Jose Peralta said that the letter is a violation of the city’s Human Rights Law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of immigration status.
“It was very shocking and appalling,” Peralta told NY Daily News. “Why would a management company want to know that when all they need to know is you are the person on the lease?”
Peralta also added that he planned to file a complaint with state Attorney General’s office on Monday after a constituent contacted him to complain.
The landlord said that the letter was drafted by the electrician and it is the result of more than a year of frustration to gain access to apartments to make electrical repairs following a fire.
The electrician Eddie Peralta, who immigrated to the US from Colombia in 1983, told the newspaper that his secretary wrote the letter.
“What Donald Trump is doing is right. People need to become legal!” he said. “Look what we do for all these illegal aliens, and what do they do? They commit homicides. They go raping people.”