Nashville, TN asked in Immigration Law for Tennessee

Q: Is it legal to rent to illegal immigrants in Nashville tn.I know they tried to ban it once.

An can a landlord refuse them without any backlash legally?

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3 Lawyer Answers
Gunda Yohanna Brost
Gunda Yohanna Brost
Answered
  • Immigration Law Lawyer
  • Cedar Falls, IA

A: No person is illegal, their actions may be or have been. In the case of so-called "illegal immigrants," this action may be a one-time decision decades ago by someone in their family to cross a border, often bringing someone with them as a child when that child had no control over this. By the way, many times the artificial border lines they are being punished for crossing was not there previously because the land belonged to them. You should also consider that people are doing the same thing your own ancestors did when they came to this country: looking for better opportunities and survival. The only difference is that our immigration laws systems have always favored certain groups over others (i.e. Caucasian/Europeans over non-Caucasions/non-Europeans). With these things in mind, denying housing to someone who has the ability to pay is inherently suspect and has a bad history in this country. I have not heard of a system that prohibits a person to live somewhere they can pay for based on their immigration status - but if it exists, that is truly atrocious.

James L. Arrasmith
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Answered
  • Immigration Law Lawyer
  • Sacramento, CA

A: Under federal law, there is no prohibition against landlords renting to undocumented immigrants or non-citizens. However, state and local laws may vary on this issue.

A: It is currently legal for a landlord to rent to undocumented immigrants in Nashville. A 2019 bill outlawing this conduct was never passed.

A current bill in the TN legislature will prohibit an “illegal alien” from being housed on real property owned by the state or a political subdivision.

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