ICE landlord collusion is becoming an increasingly alarming trend, as evidenced by recent reports detailing instances of federal agents seemingly acting on behalf of landlords. Shortly after midnight on September 30, more than 300 agents from federal agencies descended on a 130-unit apartment complex in southern Chicago. They busted down doors, SWAT teams rappelled from a helicopter, they threw around flash-bang grenades, zip tied dozens of residents, and put them in unmarked vans.
US citizens detained were cut loose after a few hours while 37 immigrants were not. Trump administration officials championed the raid saying the apartment complex was filled with members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has designated a terrorist group.
A ProPublica investigation with Block Club Chicago and Frontline later found that it was all BS.
This is 100% what happened. Landlord called in ICE to brutalize tenants and clear out the building.
This isn’t entirely new. Law enforcement largely exists to serve capital and often uses violence to forward real estate interests. One of the most public instances in recent years was the home invasion and killing of Breona Taylor by Louisville police in 2020, which was linked to plans to clear the neighborhood and speed up a major redevelopment plan.
But there is an increasing amount of evidence that the ICE national police state is rapidly building out this architecture as ICE works with landlords to detain tenants targeted for eviction, as well as landlords using the threat of ICE to force people out of their homes.
There are instances of this occurring across the country as there is clear overlap of interests between ICE looking to goose its detain and deportation numbers and landlords eager to be free of renter protections. The result is that these masked ICE gangs that routinely ignore the bill of rights become landlord goon squads.
That service, of course, extends to employers as well:
The Escalating Threat of ICE Landlord Collusion
While ICE can come in handy for landlords looking to evict tenants or clear out a building, the new police state on steroids is also causing plenty of headaches:
the true victims of ice: landlords
In the Minnesota Twin Cities, worker and tenant unions aimed to launch a rent strike yesterday as they demand an eviction moratorium to cover renters whose ability to sell their labor has been hit by the police state crackdown.
It’s unclear to me if the strike has actually begun. Hardship can extend past immigrants, such as for those employed by businesses who have temporarily shuttered. Immigrant-owned businesses don’t just employ immigrants, of course.
A report published last month by the L.A. Economic Development Corporation found that 82% of surveyed small business owners said they’d been negatively affected by federal immigration actions, and about a quarter had temporarily closed.
In certain communities across the country it’s causing a major crisis in the rental industry. Instances of **ICE landlord collusion** are creating instability within the housing market.
Political Resistance, Economic Reality
“Unchecked federal power threatens people in cities across the country,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a recent mass email “and we must all stand up against these authoritarian tactics.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been one of the loudest critics of Trump policies.
Upon Trump’s return to office, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors “reaffirmed its support for immigrants,” which included establishing a task force to monitor the impact of federal immigration policies, increased mental health support for immigrants, and launching an awareness campaign.
But last month when it came time to support those affected by masked agents terrorizing the city and back them where it counts, the Board folded like a cheap suit, and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom were suddenly silent.
The Supervisors overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have let tenants across the county fall behind by about three months’ worth of rent and still have local protections from eviction. Supporters said the rules would have helped immigrants stay housed after losing income because of federal immigration raids. Local governments in other localities hit hard by ICE operations like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago have also resisted eviction moratoria to aid with growing housing crises. You can find more related Finance news on our website.
ICE as a Bailout for Commercial Real Estate?
The administration is rushing contracts through WEXMAC TITUS — the Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract for Territorial Integrity of the United States—which was designed for military logistics, but is now being used by ICE and shoveling money out the door. It plans to spend $38.3 billion on detention facilities by the end of this year.
That means that politically connected owners of large warehouses across the country are getting a lifeline.
Given that commercial real estate is sucking wind right now, just about the only way to make money is to leverage political connections to become involved in the heavily political spaces of AI data centers and deportation infrastructure.
During the pandemic-era e-commerce boom, speculators rushed to build and lease warehouse space. Many of the far-flung warehouses now being scouted by ICE were built for a handful of e-commerce behemoths — such as Amazon and Walmart — that require specialized high-volume distribution facilities.
But these investments have sometimes failed to pay off, as tariff uncertainty has caused commercial real estate demand to falter. The implications of **ICE landlord collusion** extend beyond individual tenants, impacting the broader commercial real estate market.
In conclusion, the emerging pattern of **ICE landlord collusion** presents a multifaceted challenge, impacting individual tenants, exacerbating housing crises, and potentially reshaping the commercial real estate landscape. The urgent need for policy interventions and increased scrutiny of these practices is evident, to ensure equitable housing and economic stability for all.
