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Farmingvile 'day laborer' flophouse landlord
arrested in Farmingvile
Suffolk police this morning arrested the owner of a rundown 900-square-foot
house in Farmingville that has been home to as many as 64 Hispanic immigrants
at a time, each paying $200-$250 a month in rent.
Rosalina Dias, 31, of Selden, was charged with criminal contempt and criminal
nuisance for violating an October 2004 court order barring her from renting out
the house. Although officials said it was highly unusual to arrest a landlord, they
took the action because of her "outrageous and total disregard for court orders,"
said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy..........................
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Farmingvile 'day laborer' flophouse landlord arrested in Farmingvile, LI, NY
Suffolk police this morning arrested the owner of a rundown
900-square-foot house in Farmingville that has been home to as many as 64 Hispanic immigrants at a time, each paying $200-$250 a month in rent. Rosalina Dias, 31, of Selden, Long Island, NYwas charged with criminal contempt and criminal nuisance for violating an October 2004 court order barring her from renting out the house. Although officials said it was highly unusual to arrest a landlord, they took the action because of her "outrageous and total disregard for court orders," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy..........
TAKE A LOOK INSIDE ONE OF DOZENS OF FARMINGVILE 'DAY LABORER' HARBORAGES
housing raid left with nowhere to go
The advocates warned the action might reignite tensions in a community that has already seen the attempted murder of two Mexican day laborers in 2000 and the firebombing of a Mexican family's house in 2003. They also said it was a repeat of a scene in 1998 when Mexican day laborers were evicted from a house in Farmingville and ended up on the lawn of the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection.
"We're going to sleep in the street," said in Spanish. Another worker, Francisco Penelopez, 27, said, "This isn't the American dream..... It's the American nightmare."
"Suffolk County is becoming a war zone on immigrants," said
Darren Sandow of the Jericho-based Unitarian Universalist Fund.
Levy's move "is cheap gimmicks used to get votes. The unfortunate
thing is that humans are the pawns."
Latino activist the Rev. Allan Ramirez of Brookville Reformed Church, who was trying to help the men find a place to sleep last night, said, "Mr. Levy has simply started his own personal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Suffolk County ... He is fanning the flames, ....... the flames of hatred."
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Farmingvile L.I., NY Home Held Up to 64 Men, Authorities Say
By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: June 21, 2005
FARMINGVILLE, N.Y., June 20 - Long Island law enforcement agents
raided and closed a small one-family home here that they said had been
converted into an illegal rooming house jammed with 44 beds and up to
64 male occupants.
Officials said they are investigating an additional 117 houses for illegal
overcrowding in this blue-collar suburb, which has been polarized in recent
years over an influx of thousands of Mexican laborers, many of them illegal
immigrants who work in the contracting, landscaping and service industries.
The crackdown is the latest front in the battle over immigration here that has
prompted homeowner protests and even violence. Last year Farmingville became
the title of an award-winning documentary on the struggle.
Shortly after dawn on Sunday, a team of Brookhaven building inspectors and
fire marshals joined county police in raiding the dilapidated, 900-square-foot
home at 33 Woodmont Place and found 28 men there. But inspectors said they
had counted as many as 64 men emerging from the house on other mornings
in recent weeks.
The tenants paid $225 to $250 a month each for a bunk in the house, the police
said. Suffolk's district attorney, Thomas J. Spota, estimated the gross monthly
rent at $9,000.
The site is just a block away from Granny Road, where in July 2003, local teenagers
set fire to a house with a Mexican family sleeping inside. The family barely escaped.
Three years before that, two out-of-towners pretending to be contractors lured two
Mexican tenants from the house next door and savagely beat them. In both cases the
assailants were arrested and convicted.
"It's ground zero," said Rev. Allan B. Ramirez, an advocate for immigrants who was
familiar with the house on Woodmont and returned there Monday as some occupants
removed their belongings. At a news conference on Monday, Suffolk County Executive
Steve Levy called the house "a hellhole" that disrupted the entire neighborhood and
endangered the tenants, who paid exorbitant rents. Such conditions "will not be tolerated,"
he said.
The authorities identified Rosalina Dias, 31, of Selden, as the owner and arrested her
on criminal contempt and criminal nuisance charges, saying she had ignored State Supreme
Court orders to comply with building codes. She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in
Suffolk's First District Court in Central Islip. She was held in $20,000 bail, according to
the sheriff's department. Though the tenants were not formally evicted, many left, and on
Monday town inspectors effectively closed the building by posting warning notices that
the building was unsafe and putting yellow tape across the doors.
Longtime Farmingville residents complain that many immigrants cluster menacingly on
corners waiting for work and that overcrowded houses generate noise, traffic and garbage
and burden local services. "The conditions were disgusting" in the house, said Councilman
James Tullo of Brookhaven. Officials said the inside was a filthy jumble of mattresses,
clothing and food. Photographs and videotape showed a collapsing ceiling, overloaded
electrical wiring and blocked basement windows.
The main floor had a kitchen and two bathrooms. That floor and the basement were crammed
with beds and belongings. Outside were two bicycles, a grill and cases of empty beer bottles
in two shopping carts. Conditions are as bad or even worse at some of the 117 other houses
that the authorities are investigating, Mr. Tullo said.
Defenders of the immigrant workers say they provide low-cost menial labor but are often
exploited by contractors who pay illegally low wages with no benefits.
Mr. Ramirez accused Mr. Levy of "racism" and "ethnic cleansing." While conceding
"horrible conditions" in the house, the minister said the abrupt enforcement means
"basically there will be 25 or 30 men sleeping out on the street."
"There are hundreds and hundreds of mother-daughter apartments and dozens and
dozens of group cottages on Fire Island that are just as illegal," Mr. Ramirez said,
"so why does Levy continue to target just the Latino community?"
A mother-daughter apartment refers to a separate apartment within a single-family home,
which often violate local codes.
Mr. Levy said that social service and charitable agencies would house anyone who
was homeless. "This was a concentration camp setting," he said. "How do you compare
a mother-daughter house with a deathtrap like this? Reverend Ramirez would be the
first extremist holding a press conference if a fire killed 40 people there."
In the neighborhood, Dianne Aragones, a child care worker, welcomed the enforcement
after years of disruptions, including contractors honking their truck horns for workers
before 6 a.m.
"With us it's definitely not a racial issue, because I'm Irish and my husband is Puerto Rican,"
she said. "My heart aches for these men. They're used and abused. They came for a better life.
You can sympathize - all our ancestors did. But having 50, 60 people in one house is not good
for them or anyone." But across the street from the closed house, Jaime Aqueron, an art teacher,
said he had no objections "They never bothered me, and I never bothered them," he said.
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illegal immigration
We have a smashing development in the fight against illegal
immigration. The town of Farmingville in Long Island, New York,
was invaded several years ago by thousands of illegal alien day
laborers. They stand on street corners by the hundreds every day
waiting for work. The champions in that town of 15,000
(Greater Farmingville Community Association) stand on the
same corner [every day except Sunday], rain, show or shine,
with American flags and signs protesting against the illegals.
Many homeowners rent safe houses for them, 40-50 men
in a house. Now, finally, officials in Suffolk County have started to
show their support for the courageous, persistent townsfolk. It started
with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. It continues with Joe
Caracappa, Presiding Officer of Suffolk County Legislature, and
Jim Tullo, Councilman of the 4th District of the town of
Brookhaven. On June 2, the police conducted a sting operation of
contractors hiring illegals (NBC-TB covered the story). And they
have identified 117 illegal safe houses, and are going after the
landlords. Believe it or not, the police were threatened by some of
them! These three heroes need support.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, ph (631) 853-4000, email is
county.executive@suffolkcountyny.govCouncilman Jim Tullo: ph (631) 451-6968, email is
jtullo@brookhaven.orgJoseph Caracappa, Presiding Officer, ph (631) 854-2700, email is
joseph.caracappa@suffolkcountyny.govPlease contact them and email as well. Please stay strong in
the face of nasty opposition, the country is watching. THANKS!!
Evelyn Miller, CCIR
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Newsday: June 27th 2005
Farmiingville, NY: Waving signs and banging sticks on plastic buckets like drums, about 200 people, mainly undocumented Mexican immigrants, marched through Farmingville yesterday demanding the right not to be evicted without notice and thrown into the street. .........."If Steve Levy had closed down a house with 30 or 40 dogs in it, he would have found shelter for them before throwing them out on the streets," said a Latino advocate, the Rev. Allan Ramirez, who carried a small dog with him. "We wish that at the very least he would treat the Latino community the way he would treat the dogs."........ Some residents, however, questioned whether the immigrants have any rights without documentation to enter this country. Suffolk County Steve Levy called the demonstrators
a "lunatic fringe."
Newsday Editorial: June 27th 2005
.....Some residents want to sweep the region free of undocumented immigrants. That isn't going to happen. President George W. Bush, in proposing a program last year that would give undocumented people three-year working permits, has urged Americans to confront "a basic fact of life and economics: Some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling." He's right. But those workers shouldn't be housed in harm's way, as happened in Huntington Station where three of 33 people crammed into a building died in a fire. Before they launch another boarding-house raid, Suffolk and Brookhaven should have a plan in place to help workers find housing. hN
Check out DEMO photos:
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and residents who joined Mexican day laborers in protesting their
evictions from an overcrowded house in Farmingville said yesterday
they were offended by Suffolk Executive Steve Levy... See below:
A protest over evictionsJune 27, 2005
BY BART JONES / STAFF WRITER; Staff writer Rachel Leifer
contributed to this story. Waving signs and banging sticks on plastic
buckets like drums, about 200 people, mainly undocumented Mexican
immigrants, marched through Farmingville [possibly without a permit
as police looked on ] yesterday demanding the right not to be evicted
without notice and thrown into the street. Some... Aditional reference:
Commentary: Why is it only Farmingville, LI,NY and Huntington
Station,LI,NY that get all the attention? In riverhead, LI, NY there
is a heavy polish immigrant population, with many being illegal.
In Minneola, there are many illegal Portuguese. In Flushing, LI, NY
there are scores of illegal Asians. Why don't these communities
have the same level of tension? Long Island is an area within
metropolitan NYC.
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Farmingvile, Long Island, NY
.....The Mexican government entered the fray in Farmingville on Tuesday, with that nation's consul general in Manhattan denouncing the evictions of dozens of day laborers in the community, including some who were left homeless.
....The Mexican government entered the fray in Farmingville on Tuesday, with that nation's consul general in Manhattan denouncing the evictions of dozens of day laborers in the community, including some who were left homeless.
....Arturo Sarukhan, who as consul general oversees the Mexican population in the tristate area and is one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials in the United States, criticized Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy for actions that he said had increased tensions in the community.
"The recipe is not vilifying the Mexicans," said Sarukhan, who sent two aides to Farmingville on Tuesday on a fact-finding mission and plans to visit himself later this week. "The bad guys are not the day laborers. They are the unscrupulous landlords."
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NEWSDAY- Business Section
Suffolk County, LI,NY:
Members of County Exec's Steve Levy's Hispanic
Advisory Board resign seats
Nine of 19 members of Suffolk exec’s Hispanic Advisory Board quit saying they should have been consulted before day laborers were evicted in FARMINGVILE. But Mr. Levy, a Democrat who took office last year, said he had met with the board more often than his Republican predecessor did in 12 years, and described most of those who quit as disgruntled Republican holdovers. In vitriolic volleys in the past three weeks, critics called Mr. Levy "racist" and accused him of "ethnic cleansing" in Farmingville, while he retorted that the critics were "extremists" and the "lunatic fringe."
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Steve Levy's unsound approach to the problem of undocumented workers
Newsday Tue, 12 Jul 2005 1:42 AM PDT
With all the angst over Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy's unsound approach to the problem of undocumented workers, it's easy to forget how much progress he has made in keeping campaign promises on other fronts.
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Dear Mr.Levy,
Below you will find a copy of the email I sent to NewsDay.com. Please take a moment to read my 'take' on the whole affair . . . re: NewsDay.com. . . Mexican official: Farmingville among places for top anti-Mexican acts
Dear Editors,
Below you will find my commentary intersperse with your article. Please DO take the time to read over. Your newspaper is only telling HALF the story. Wake up! We Americans are about fed up with the likes of you!
The full story:
A high-ranking Mexican official said Friday that Farmingville has become one of the top areas for anti-Mexican actions in the United States, right after the Arizona border.
It's against U.S. law for a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT to meddle in our affairs. Tell Sarukhan to 'butt out!'
Arturo Sarukhan, head of the Mexican consulate in Manhattan, also labeled as "preposterous" Suffolk Executive Steve Levy's refusal to meet with certain immigrant advocates on Long Island.
It's against U.S. law for a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT to meddle in our affairs. Tell Sarukhan to 'shut up!'
"If I look at a map of the United States, Farmingville is clearly a red zone after the Arizona border," Sarukhan said in a news conference at the Hempstead headquarters of the Workplace Project, a nonprofit pro-immigrant group.
Yes that's true that Farmingville is a RED ZONE because the Illegal alien Mexicans, Hispanics and Latinos have 'taken over' there! And . . . I would like to see that MAP he speaks of. Is it their 'reconquista' map?
The Workplace Project is a socialist, communist organization, one of many that are backing the massive illegal alien invasion of America!
Levy did not respond directly to the criticism, but instead issued a statement criticizing Newsday for focusing on him "without mention of the landlord who preyed upon these individuals or on the neighbors in the surrounding community who were so severely impacted by this illegal boarding house."
Good for him! Please, please, please Mr. Levy don't cave in to these illegal alien supporters. Your criticism are RIGHT ON THE MARK!
He also said the newspaper should stop seeking the reaction of officials outside Suffolk County, such as Sarukhan. He said he feels badly for local residents "who have lived with the consequences of local officials turning a blind eye [on illegal housing] for so long."
AGAIN, Levy is RIGHT ON THE MARK! He understands that it is about THE LAW! It is the rights of us American citizens to not be overrun by illegal aliens that flaunt their illegality, backed by the pro-illegal alien, open borders, communist, socialist, Marxist, anarchists anti-Americans that have your ear!
Sarukhan said the Mexican consulate is closely following the conflict after dozens of undocumented day laborers were evicted from three overcrowded Farmingville homes.
Sarukhan is ONLY ALLOWED to FOLLOW CLOSE and NOT interfere in our business. THAT's the LAW!
Levy "is using his post not to unite and heal the wounds that are already in a community like Farmingville, but to polarize it even more, and unfortunately he is listening to the most radical groups." He added that the resignation Thursday of nine members of Levy's Hispanic Advisory Board underscored the anger in the Latino community.
Where's the NON-HISPANIC BOARD? When do we 'GET A SEAT AT THE TABLE?' I'm sick and tired of the pro-illegal aliens Hispanic and Latino 'advisory' boards having the 'ear' of our government while the rest of us are shut out! Hear us, listen to our voices. Why should FOREIGNERS have such 'sway!'
Soon "We the People" will begin to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!
Sarukhan called on Levy to meet with day laborers and advocates the county executive has called "extremists," including Nadia Marin-Molina of the Workplace Project, the Rev. Allan Ramirez of the Brookville Reformed Church and Patrick Young of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance.
Boy of boy . . . I'm liking this guy Levy more and more. He knows who the anti-American, pro-illegal alien, pro-open borders crowd is! He is well informed and doing a GREAT JOB! A true patriot! Stick to your guns Mr. Levy!
"They are my friends and they have done a fantastic job in defending the day laborers," said Sarukhan, who also spent the day meeting with Latino leaders and politicians including Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington).
I have a message for the MEXICAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL . . . GO HOME! STOP MEDDLING IN OUR AFFAIRS. Your illegal alien MEXICAN citizens need to go HOME! GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!!
Oh, BTW . . . could you tell me what the significance is of the green attached to the American flag hanging above the illegal aliens bed in your article? Does it signify that they have reconquistad that much of America? Just curious???
Also, below . . . notice . . . NO AMERICAN FLAGS THERE!!!
Regards,
If you have gotten this far . . . I am:
Daneen Peterson, Ph.D.
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Housing issue gets heated
July 12, 2005
BY BART JONES / STAFF WRITER
An angry Suffolk Executive Steve Levy lashed out at the news media Monday, including Newsday, for its coverage of the Mexican day laborer evictions in Farmingville and said it is missing the real story -- the many residents who support the crackdown on...
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Lawrence C. Levy is a columunist and member of Newsday's editorial board.
If there is to be any sensible solution to the complex problem of undocumented workers, then there has to be honesty - not politically correct pandering - from all sides. These hopeful, hardworking visitors deserve to live safely. Their sweat benefits...
[see letters of support to Steve Levy below]
Levy points wrong wayNewsday: editorial July 13th
It's more with a sense of sorrow than anger that we watch Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy resort to the gimmick of media bashing because he doesn't like the message of recent press reports. He's capable of better. In an angry, finger pointing news...
[see letters of support to Steve Levy below]
LETTERS OF SUPPORT FOR STEVE LEVY
Dear Mr.Levy,
Below you will find a copy of the email I sent to NewsDay.com. Please take a moment to read my 'take' on the whole affair . . . re: NewsDay.com. . . Mexican official: Farmingville among places for top anti-Mexican acts
Dear [Newsday] Editors,
Below you will find my commentary interspersed with your article. Please DO take the time to read over. Your newspaper is only telling HALF the story. Wake up! We Americans are about fed up with the likes of you!
The full story:
A high-ranking Mexican official said Friday that Farmingville has become one of the top areas for anti-Mexican actions in the United States, right after the Arizona border.
It's against U.S. law for a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT to meddle in our affairs. Tell Sarukhan to 'butt out!'
Arturo Sarukhan, head of the Mexican consulate in Manhattan, also labeled as "preposterous" Suffolk Executive Steve Levy's refusal to meet with certain immigrant advocates on Long Island.
It's against U.S. law for a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT to meddle in our affairs. Tell Sarukhan to 'shut up!'
"If I look at a map of the United States, Farmingville is clearly a red zone after the Arizona border," Sarukhan said in a news conference at the Hempstead headquarters of the Workplace Project, a nonprofit pro-immigrant group.
Yes that's true that Farmingville is a RED ZONE because the Illegal alien Mexicans, Hispanics and Latinos have 'taken over' there! And . . . I would like to see that MAP he speaks of. Is it their 'reconquista' map?
The Workplace Project is a socialist, communist organization, one of many that are backing the massive illegal alien invasion of America!
Levy did not respond directly to the criticism, but instead issued a statement criticizing Newsday for focusing on him "without mention of the landlord who preyed upon these individuals or on the neighbors in the surrounding community who were so severely impacted by this illegal boarding house."
Good for him! Please, please, please Mr. Levy don't cave in to these illegal alien supporters. Your criticism are RIGHT ON THE MARK!
He also said the newspaper should stop seeking the reaction of officials outside Suffolk County, such as Sarukhan. He said he feels badly for local residents "who have lived with the consequences of local officials turning a blind eye [on illegal housing] for so long."
AGAIN, Levy is RIGHT ON THE MARK! He understands that it is about THE LAW! It is the rights of us American citizens to not be overrun by illegal aliens that flaunt their illegality, backed by the pro-illegal alien, open borders, communist, socialist, Marxist, anarchists anti-Americans that have your ear!
Sarukhan said the Mexican consulate is closely following the conflict after dozens of undocumented day laborers were evicted from three overcrowded Farmingville homes.
Sarukhan is ONLY ALLOWED to FOLLOW CLOSE and NOT interfere in our business. THAT's the LAW!
Levy "is using his post not to unite and heal the wounds that are already in a community like Farmingville, but to polarize it even more, and unfortunately he is listening to the most radical groups." He added that the resignation Thursday of nine members of Levy's Hispanic Advisory Board underscored the anger in the Latino community.
Where's the NON-HISPANIC BOARD? When do we 'GET A SEAT AT THE TABLE?' I'm sick and tired of the pro-illegal aliens Hispanic and Latino 'advisory' boards having the 'ear' of our government while the rest of us are shut out! Hear us, listen to our voices. Why should FOREIGNERS have such 'sway!'
Soon "We the People" will begin to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!
Sarukhan called on Levy to meet with day laborers and advocates the county executive has called "extremists," including Nadia Marin-Molina of the Workplace Project, the Rev. Allan Ramirez of the Brookville Reformed Church and Patrick Young of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance.
Boy of boy . . . I'm liking this guy Levy more and more. He knows who the anti-American, pro-illegal alien, pro-open borders crowd is! He is well informed and doing a GREAT JOB! A true patriot! Stick to your guns Mr. Levy!
"They are my friends and they have done a fantastic job in defending the day laborers," said Sarukhan, who also spent the day meeting with Latino leaders and politicians including Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington).
I have a message for the MEXICAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL . . . GO HOME! STOP MEDDLING IN OUR AFFAIRS. Your illegal alien MEXICAN citizens need to go HOME! GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!!
Daneen Peterson, Ph.D.
Hello Mr. Levy:
I wanted to send you my congratulations on enforcing housing codes in
Suffolk County. The creeping destruction of neighborhoods is occurring
all across the country and is only possible because government and
elected officials are ignoring the problem.
On a recent trip to my hometown of Chicago, my Aunt told me how bad the
situation is in her neighborhood on the near Northwest side where mostly
Polish immigrants are paying for a bed shift and the next occupant uses
the same bed on the next shift. Preposterous but confirmed by those who
are renting an eight-hour shift for sleeping privileges only.
Keep up the courageous effort. The Congress needs to be bullied into
securing our borders and deporting illegal immigrants with dispatch
whatever their country of origin.
Joyce Tarnow, President
Floridians for a Sustainable Population
http://www.flsuspop.org |
