ACLU of Colorado sues landlord who allegedly threatened to report tenants to immigration authorities
By Sydney Isenberg
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DENVER (KMGH) — The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit against an Aurora landlord on Tuesday, claiming the landlord repeatedly harassed their Venezuelan tenants and threatened to report them to immigration authorities.
ACLU of Colorado named Avi Schwalb and Nancy Dominguez, as well as PHS Rent, LLC., as the landlord in its lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs, identified as John Doe and Jane Roe, are a Venezuelan couple who live in an apartment with their two sons, ages 15 and 13. The couple has pending applications for asylum in the United States, according to the ACLU of Colorado.
The couple agreed to lease the apartment for $1,800 per month from Sept. 23, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. They received rental assistance to pay the initial rent and move-in costs, according to the lawsuit.
In November, the couple “incurred unexpected medical expenses” and fell behind on rent, according to the ACLU of Colorado. In response, the ACLU of Colorado alleges that the landlord “repeatedly threatened and coerced the family.”
Sometime around Dec. 4, the lawsuit claims that John Doe and his eldest son came home from school to find that the locks had been changed on the apartment. The couple did not receive a notice, and there was “no valid court order for possession of the property,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states the father and his 15-year-old son were forced to sleep in their car overnight and eventually got back into the apartment through a window.
The next day, Jane Roe called the landlord’s office to ask for an explanation. According to the lawsuit, Dominguez told the couple they “could not do anything about it because they are not “from here,” are Venezuelan and have no rights.”
The lawsuit claims John Doe was told he would receive a new key to the apartment if he made an additional payment. John Doe reportedly paid $1,000, and after an additional week without a key, he paid another $300. After the $300 payment, management left a new key in Doe’s mailbox, according to the lawsuit.
Then, on Jan. 15, Dominguez reportedly “knocked harshly” on the tenants’ door. The tenants answered and Dominguez “shoved some papers through the door and misleadingly told Plaintiffs they had “ten days to move out,”” according to the lawsuit.
The papers claimed the tenants were being evicted due to $4,200 in past rent from Nov. 1, 2024, through Jan. 31, 2025. The document allegedly stated that the lease would be terminated as of 10 a.m. on Jan. 29 if the tenants did not pay the missed rent.
A few days later, on Jan. 24, Schwalb reportedly showed up at the apartment. According to the lawsuit, when Jane Roe began to open the door, Schwalb “slammed it back, hitting Ms. Roe in the face.”
The lawsuit claims Schwalb had a handwritten paper that allegedly showed what the tenants owed, but he never showed the paper to the tenants. Instead, Schwalb “raised his voice, stating in broken Spanish that they owed him money and if they did not have money, they were going to go outside to the street, in the cold,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Schwalb told the tenants they had “one hour, two hours” to leave. When the tenants told Schwalb this was illegal, the lawsuit states he “escalated by threatening that they would be taken outside by immigration enforcement.”
According to the lawsuit, Schwalb told the couple that immigration authorities would “come here [to the Apartment] today,” and once they arrived, the family would be “out.” He also reportedly told the couple, “Migra today.” Migra, or la migra, is Spanish slang for immigration enforcement officials.
At one point, Schwalb told the couple that “they did not have papers, and that while good immigrants come to the United States, as Venezuelans, all they did was cause problems,” according to the lawsuit.
Schwalb had reportedly visited the apartment previously for maintenance purposes. During those times, Schwalb “shouted” at the tenants and “degraded Plaintiffs’ Venezuelan origin to Plaintiffs’ neighbors,” the lawsuit claims. He also allegedly harassed former neighbors, who were also Venezuelan.
The ACLU of Colorado claims Schwalb, Dominguez, and PHS Rent, LLC. violated Colorado’s Immigrant Tenant Protection Act and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), as well as state eviction laws.
“We will not allow our immigrant neighbors to be terrorized like this,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director, in a statement. “The landlord’s threats violate Colorado state law, which prevents landlords from trying to take advantage of the perceived immigration status of their tenants and coercing them into refraining from exercising their rights.”
The ACLU of Colorado is asking the court to deem the defendants’ alleged conduct unlawful, stop the alleged behavior, and award actual and statutory damages, to be determined during trial. The ACLU of Colorado has requested a jury trial.
Denver7 reached out to PHS Rent, LLC. for comment on Tuesday but did not hear back as of the publication of this article.
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