Overview

• The Morales family alleges they were illegally evicted from their Baldwin Park home and filed a wrongful-eviction lawsuit against landlord Celia Ruiz and agent David Benavides in May.
• Emails from defense lawyer Rod Fehlman in late June told the U.S.-born tenants they were "likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial," prompting accusations of intimidation and racial profiling.
• Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a July 23 consumer alert underscoring that it is illegal in California to harass or retaliate against tenants by disclosing or threatening to disclose immigration status.
• Fehlman has since said his ICE reference was intended as a general caution about courthouse arrests, while the tenants’ lawyers are considering filing ethics or disciplinary charges against him.
• The lawsuit has progressed against Benavides’s brokerage, but landlord Ruiz remains unlocated and unserved even as ICE reported 2,031 interior arrests in Southern California in June.