Illinois landlords fined $80,000 for threatening to report tenants to ICE

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — A pair of Illinois landlords have been ordered to pay $80,000 to former tenants after threatening to report them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Marco Antonio Contreras and Denise Contreras were ordered by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Schneider to pay former tenants Maria Maltos Escutia and Gabriel Valdez Garcia, who filed a 2022 lawsuit under the Illinois Immigrant Tenant Protection Act.

The act prohibits landlords from evicting or retaliating against tenants based on their immigration status and was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2019.

Court documents showed Marco Contreras threatened to call ICE agents in June 2020 after a dispute with Escutia and Garcia, USA Today reported.

Escutia and Garcia moved into a basement apartment in 2017, and said the Contreras’ told them they would have to vacate the apartment because it was being sold, but asked for a full month’s rent. When the tenants asked to pay a prorated amount, Marco Contreras threatened to call ICE.

After they had moved out, the lawsuit said Denise Contreras wouldn’t let them come back to collect some possessions.