A San Francisco tenant from Russia in federal immigration custody is being evicted by his landlord in absentia. He is set to lose his housing Monday due to his inability to appear in court.
On Monday morning, the 42-year-old, who fled Russia due to political persecution, will be nowhere near the McCallister Street eviction court where his case is scheduled to be heard. Mission Local is not identifying the man by name for fear of repercussion from federal immigration agents.
Lawyers representing the San Francisco landlord have refused to reschedule the man’s eviction hearing even though they are aware of the tenant’s detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to attorneys with the nonprofit Eviction Defense Collaborative, which has been working with the tenant since he first received notification of his eviction at the end of October.
The legal firm for the landlord, a limited liability corporation titled 33 8th Street, declined a request to postpone the trial, saying that the Eviction Defense Collaborative is not the “attorney of record” and cannot ask for a continuance.
That firm, Bornstein Law, did not respond to multiple requests for comment, nor did the people behind the LLC. Trinity Properties, one of San Francisco’s largest landlords, which owns a building at that address, also did not respond.
Under normal circumstances, the man would have to appear in court to ask for his eviction trial to be postponed. But because he is in a detention center, he cannot do so. ICE did not respond to requests for comment about whether they would allow the man to appear, even virtually.
The building the tenant is being evicted from appears to be Trinity Place at 33 Eighth St. Mission Local reached out to Ashish Bartaula, the agent for 33 8th Street LLC, which is filing the suit. Bartaula did not return phone calls.
The Russian immigrant has been detained since Jan. 5, and is currently under ICE custody at the California City Detention Center, an immigration detention center in a former men’s prison about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
His “no-show” will result in his eviction, according to the Eviction Defense Collaborative, which represents tenants pro-bono. In San Francisco, tenants are entitled by law to an attorney in eviction cases, and the 42-year-old showed up to the nonprofit for an intake as part of the process of getting representation in November.
The man is being evicted for alleged nonpayment of rent. Jessica Santillo, another attorney with Eviction Defense Collaborative, said it takes the landlord “at their word” about the rationale but wants the man to have his time in front of a judge.
“Everyone deserves their day of court. To have due process they need to be able to participate in their case,” she said. “If the landlord is true to their word and is seeking repayment, that is best facilitated by participation of the tenant.”
This tenant’s case raises questions about how people in immigration detention across the country may be denied due process to appear for non-immigration court hearings, such as civil suits, housing court or family court.
When individuals are incarcerated in jails or prisons, it is never a problem to represent them, said Ora Prochovnick, the director of litigation and policy at the Eviction Defense Collaborative — attorneys simply visit their clients behind bars, the clients appear virtually or the lawyer gets permission to represent the client on their behalf.
But in this instance, the eviction nonprofit has not received a response from the ICE detention center where the tenant is being held and has been unable to reach their client.
“What I regret is that if he returns home, he won’t have a home to return to, and how extremely unfair that is,” said Prochovnick.
“San Francisco voters created a tenant rights counsel program because we realized housing is a necessity and the importance of having a day in court. This person is being denied their due process because of the federal government’s approach to immigration issues,” said Prochovnick.
Himanshu Khatri, the immigration attorney working to get the man released from detention, said the episode is a travesty of justice.
It is “very unprofessional and very opportunistic” for the landlord to do this, he said, “because they know he can’t be present because he is detained.”