$80,000 Lesson: Never Use ICE as a Collection Tool

A February 2025 judgment out of Illinois should be required reading for every landlord in America. An Illinois court entered an $80,000 judgment against a residential property owner — not for failing to maintain the property, not for an unlawful eviction, but for threatening to call immigration authorities on a tenant who hadn't paid rent.

Let that sink in. Eighty thousand dollars.

What Happened

The underlying events date back to 2020. A family had been renting a basement unit from the property owner for approximately three years. When a dispute arose over unpaid rent, rather than pursue the legal remedies available to every landlord in every state — a pay-or-quit notice, an eviction filing, a judgment for possession — the property owner took a different approach. Suspecting the tenants were undocumented, he threatened to report them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unless they complied.

The tenants filed suit in 2022. Three years later, the court answered: $80,000.

Why This Exposes You to Massive Liability

Making this threat implicates a web of federal and state fair housing protections, anti-retaliation statutes, and consumer protection laws. Courts treat it as coercion — using a tenant's immigration status as leverage to extract compliance is not a rent collection strategy; it is an abuse of power that courts and juries find deeply offensive. The dollar amounts reflect that.

Beyond the civil exposure, depending on the jurisdiction, such conduct can constitute criminal extortion. This is not a gray area.

The Law Already Gives You All the Tools You Need

Arizona landlords have a robust legal framework at their disposal. Under the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, a landlord whose tenant has failed to pay rent can serve a five-day notice to pay or vacate, proceed to an eviction action if the tenant fails to comply, and obtain a judgment for possession and unpaid rent. The process is straightforward and attorneys' fees are often recoverable. There is no legal gap here that extortion could possibly fill.

A Word on ICE Interactions Generally

We have previously advised clients on how to respond and interact with law enforcement — including ICE — if officers appear on property. That guidance remains in place. What we never anticipated having to say is this: do not use federal immigration enforcement as a personal collection mechanism. And yet, here we are.

The Bottom Line

If a tenant owes rent, serve the proper notice. File the eviction. Pursue the judgment. Those are your options. Threatening to call ICE is not a legal remedy — it is a path to an $80,000 judgment and potentially worse.

The Illinois landlord could have had this tenant removed lawfully. Instead, he spent five years in litigation and wrote a large check.

Don't be that landlord.Be the landlord that follows the law.

This newsletter is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.