DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration has some Metro Atlanta homeowners concerned about the future of their properties.
When Roberto Hernandez bought his Stone Mountain home, he told Channel 2 Action News he paid cash for it, and he put the home in his daughter’s name, because she’s a U.S. citizen and he’s undocumented.
Realtor Karen Lickay said it’s a scenario she’s seen several times since Mr. Trump became the frontrunner.
“Basically they feel uncomfortable that they don’t know what’s going to happen to them,” she said. “They feel unstable and that maybe they should put the house into somebody else’s name who has their immigration situation set up so they don’t have to worry about the house being taken from them.”
It’s a sentiment underscored by an ad circulating on social media from a company claiming to target undocumented homeowners. %
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The ad, in Spanish, promises to buy up homes from undocumented citizens if Mr. Trump were to become president.
The man behind the ad told Telemundo Atlanta it was meant as a joke, but Sandy Springs-based immigration attorney Charles Kuck said it’s no laughing matter.
“Somebody offers you to pay for somebody’s house or buy somebody’s house who Trump is going to deport. That’s just meant to give the community a sense of fear, a sense of anxiousness,” said Kuck. “Even if he did win, he just can’t deport everybody. That’s not how the system works.”
A recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that one in three undocumented immigrants in the U.S. own their own homes and pay billions of dollars in property taxes yearly.
Immigration enforcement advocate D.A. King told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik he hopes Donald Trump gives undocumented homeowners a reason to be worried.
“I would like to see our borders secured and our immigration and employment laws enforced,” said King, who is head of the Dustin Inman Society. “There is no expiration date on enforcement. If somebody came here illegally or evaded capture at the border, or someone overstayed a visa, they are an illegal alien and I believe each and every one of them should be found, run through the system and deported if that’s the final decision.”