--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Chaos breaks out on the border as illegal immigrants overrun the Texas National Guard. The alarming incident comes amid reports that 200,000 deportation cases were thrown out after the Biden administration failed to file the paperwork.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, March 22nd, and this is Morning Wire. Homeowners in big cities are now fighting a post-pandemic surge in squatters.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I don't have access. They changed my side locks, and they changed my entire front door.
--:-- John Bickley: And Texas, along with the DOJ, are suing the Colony Ridge Housing Development over allegations of fraudulent and deceptive practices. The hard part for a consumer, whether they're illegal or not, is that they are being misled about what they're getting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Department of Homeland Security has failed to file the proper paperwork in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant court cases. The number of immigrant cases dismissed over missing paperwork has skyrocketed since President Biden took office in 2021.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to talk about the impact of the breakdown in immigration cases and a chaotic scene at the border on Thursday is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Tim. So first, how many immigration cases have been dismissed because of missing paperwork? About 200,000 since Biden took office. That's according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, known as TRAC.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The data research group published a report on Thursday that showed that since 2021, the number of asylum cases dropped due to missing paperwork has exploded. These are cases for immigrants who entered the country illegally and then applied for asylum.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The vast majority of these cases end in deportation orders because the vast majority of them don't have valid asylum claims. Now, from 2014 to 2020, less than 1% of these likely deportation cases were dismissed due to missing filings. Under Biden, the dismissal rate has risen to over 8%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Wow, so a massive increase in drop cases. Why is this happening?
--:-- Tim Pierce: The report suggested that it may be because the Department of Homeland Security has relatively recently gained access to the immigration court's interactive scheduling system. DHS agents are now able to schedule immigration hearings themselves instead of working through the court. But they often schedule the hearings too soon to give time for DHS to complete what is called a notice to appear.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Without it, an immigrant can make their asylum claim in court and because almost every immigration court case is or ends up being a removal case, those illegal immigrants whose cases are dropped are not deported.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, so what happens then? What happens to the immigrants? They're left in legal limbo. Their asylum case hasn't been processed, so they aren't removed from the country, but neither do they have official approval to be in the country, so they can't apply for work permits or establish themselves.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This can be rectified if DHS reissues the NTA on time, but according to TRAC, since 2021, that has only happened about a quarter of the time within a year of when the case was first dismissed. And this can only make the huge backlog of immigration cases worse.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Let's shift now to the border where this incredible video reported by the New York Post shows a crowd of immigrants rushing the border and then National Guardsmen.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, according to the Post, around 600 immigrants broke through razor wire and rushed members of the Texas National Guard to get across the southern border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Post video shows dozens of migrants pushed down border fencing and then knocked down National Guardsmen who tried to hold them back.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Really a stunning video that's now unsurprisingly gone viral.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now in Washington, D.C., we're starting to see some movement on the federal level to rein in loose immigration laws, at least as regards immigrants charged with violent crimes.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A group of Democrat and independent senators have partnered together on a bill that would allow the federal government to request a court order that would require local officials to hold immigrants accused of violent crimes, that would, in theory, stop these cases where we have seen illegal aliens accused of violence released from jail soon after their arrest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The senators pushing the legislation are Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, along with independents Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Angus King of Maine.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And several of those Democrats are facing tough re-election challenges this year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: By the time that someone does their investigation and they do their work and their job, we'll be well over the 30 days and this man will have stolen my home.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's a growing trend of squatters taking over homes in cities across the country, sparking outrage and some legal change.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So Amanda, this really became a very widespread issue during COVID and afterwards, but there have been some recent incidents that have people kind of up in arms about the laws that are currently on the books. First off, can you just give us a recent example so people can understand what squatting is legally?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sure. A glaring example of this happened this month in Queens, New York. A homeowner named Adele Andaloro was actually arrested for changing the locks to her own home, trying to remove at least three people who were living there illegally.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In early February the property was taken over by the squatters who locked Andaloro out of her home ABC 7 went to investigate the matter and Andaloro was able to get back in the home only after one of the female squatters left the door unlocked Andaloro then had a locksmith change the locks, but just 10 minutes later, two male squatters came back to the home and forced themselves inside.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The squatters then called police on Andaloro, the homeowner, and she was arrested for unlawful eviction.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here's some audio of that. So Adele, you're getting arrested right now? I'm being arrested. For what? For being in my own home. And where's your lease? She's fighting the house. It's not her house anymore. My deed is current and legal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, while Andaloro has the deed to the home, the squatter showed no proof of a lease to authorities. Instead, he showed police bills of some work he claims he had done to improve the home.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In New York City, squatters have rights after just 30 days. It's against the law for property owners to turn off utilities, remove belongings, or change the locks. Property owners have to take squatters to court, and it can take months or possibly years to resolve the matter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So if you live in New York and you go on vacation or leave your home and someone moves in while you're gone, the state says those people are legally entitled to be there after just 30 days. This can also apply to a house guest or couch surfer who doesn't want to leave.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: It's insane. So New York is definitely a hotspot for this sort of problem. Where else is this a growing issue?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Atlanta have seen some really alarming trends.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The National Rental Home Council in January found that around 1,200 homes in the metro Atlanta area had squatters. It's been estimated that the number in some of these hard-hit areas has quadrupled since the pandemic started.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A particularly shocking trend that property owners have experienced was squatters entering their homes and selling their appliances. Everything from refrigerators to kitchen sinks and even light fixtures were ripped out and sold for cash.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And this was all happening while the homeowners are fighting in court to get these squatters out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a lot of people might be hearing this and they're wondering how it could possibly happen legally. What's the explanation?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There has been a movement, particularly from progressive officials, to give more protections to renters. And a lot of those protections were expanded during the pandemic with things like eviction moratoriums.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many of those tenant protections have been used to justify squatting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Flash Shelton is an anti-squatter activist who personally had to deal with squatters after his father passed. Here he is talking about those laws on Fox News.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There's such a blurred line between tenant rights and squatter rights. The laws are just so vague and law enforcement is not allowed to figure out who is a tenant, who is a squatter. So with the absence of that, they just have to say that they live there and law enforcement, you know, their only option is to refer to civil court.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And to that point of law exploitation, there's a video on TikTok that has been viewed more than 4 million times. And that shows a Venezuelan national named Lionel Moreno telling followers that they can seize uninhabited homes according to laws in the US.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: My gente, he pensado invadir una casa en Yunei State. Moreno goes on to claim that he is a friend who has taken over seven homes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Some politicians are taking this issue on. For example, the Republican-controlled Florida Senate just last week passed HB 621. This allows property owners to request action by the sheriff's office to immediately remove squatters. and it makes it so squatters can face stiff penalties, like a second degree felony charge for damage to a home or a first degree felony charge for fraudulently selling or leasing the property.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, in researching this story, I learned that all 50 states have squatter protection laws So it worth looking up what the laws in your state are Yeah and as a New Yorker I will never be leaving my home again Amanda thanks for reporting
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: You're welcome.
--:-- John Bickley: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced a criminal lawsuit against the Colony Ridge housing development. Just north of Houston, Colony Ridge has attracted thousands of illegal immigrants through marketing and financial practices that have been characterized as fraudulent and deceptive.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist spoke to Texas AG Paxton about his lawsuit against the developer behind Colony Ridge.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Hey, Spencer. So can you first give us an overview of the legal difficulties that Colony Ridge is currently facing?
--:-- John Bickley: Of course. So Colony Ridge is facing a number of different legal challenges. The controversial development currently faces a joint lawsuit from the Biden DOJ and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with the two entities alleging that Colony Ridge engage in deceptive financial practices.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: The Environmental Protection Agency is also investigating the development, and more federal agencies may soon pile in. But the latest lawsuit comes from Paxton, whose office has investigated the development's financial and marketing tactics.
--:-- John Bickley: The development charges almost a 13% interest rate. I spoke to him about the purpose and the scope of the lawsuit against Colony Ridge. They're being charged exorbitant finance charges and fees, and many of them are getting foreclosed on, and then they're just reselling them to foreclosing and then reselling.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So it's a money-making scheme based on foreclosures. And I don't think most of these consumers are aware of what they're getting into when they're buying into this development.
--:-- John Bickley: What about the alleged targeting of illegal immigrants by the Colony Ridge developer? Did Paxton address that issue and how it relates to the lawsuit?
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Yeah, he did. While there isn't any law banning the sale of land to illegal immigrants, the suit does allege that Colony Ridge used illegal tactics to market and sell the plots of Paxton says that the development targeted illegal immigrants through its financial and marketing practices, which included advertising in Spanish about owning property in the United States.
--:-- John Bickley: Paxton also discussed the specific reasons why he thinks Colony Ridge targets Hispanics and, in particular, illegal immigrants. They might not understand, because of the language barrier, what they're actually signing up for. They're also, since many of them are illegal, they're not used to knowing what the culture is here. They're not used to knowing financial transactions. and realizing that they're not actually getting the infrastructure that's being promised.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: They're not getting a good deal on their lot and their house. And so ultimately what happens is many of them lose their homes and then these developers just resell it.
--:-- John Bickley: So what exactly does this lawsuit mean for Colony Ridge going forward? So the challenges that Colony Ridge is facing certainly seem to pose an existential crisis for the company.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Paxson explained that each deceptive trade violation could come with a hefty fine. And because of the number of residents, these fines could extend well into the millions of dollars.
--:-- John Bickley: Typically under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, it's $10,000 per violation plus we can get trouble damages. So the numbers add up when you're talking potentially 50 to 75 or maybe 100,000 people. But really, it could be even worse than it sounds.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That $10,000 figure is the minimum penalty for each violation, and it could be as high as $250,000 for just one violation. And Paxton explained that every sale that the company has ever made could be in violation of the law and could come with a penalty.
--:-- John Bickley: So this lawsuit has the potential to be really financially devastating for the development. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on this lawsuit and what happens next with Colony Ridge.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thanks for reporting, Spencer.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thank you for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. Bye.
