Why Anything

"GILBOA, Ohio (AP) -- High school student Manuel Bartsch is facing deportation to his native Germany after discovering that his American step-grandfather never completed paperwork eight years ago to make his stay legal in the United States."

But yet, As crazy as that story is it seems that illegals from South and Central America can sue American citizens. As this story from last year reminds us.

Illegal day laborers and other tenants of a Farmingdale apartment building
that's home to about 150 people yesterday sued the owner, claiming he hasn't
made basic repairs and is involved in an effort to rid the village of Hispanics.



The tenants said the 48-unit apartment building at 150 Secatogue Ave. is a horror
story, with rotting pipes, exposed electrical wires, moldy walls, and rats and
other vermin running rampant.

"One doesn't like it, but you have to put up with it," Lucia
Mejia, 57, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, said in Spanish. She said
rats run through her apartment nightly basis, despite the traps she and her
family set.

The owner of the building, John Tosini of Secatogue Realty, could not be
reached for comment. Farmingdale Village officials said they have hit him with
a slew of code violations in the past year. He has paid $10,000 in fines, they
said, with more summonses still pending.

The lawsuit was filed in Nassau County Court in Mineola with the assistance
of the Hempstead-based Workplace Project and three students and a professor
at Hofstra University Law School's housing clinic. The Hofstra team said the
suit asks the court to appoint an administrator to collect all rent, and put
it toward repairing the building until it is in acceptable condition.

The building is at the center of a conflict in the village over the growing
numbers of illegal aliens (In the thousands) who live in the
village, including day laborers who wait on nearby corners for work, being hired
by contractors who do not deduct taxes on there wages ; in direct violation
of federal law.

Carlos Canales of the Workplace Project and other advocates said Tosini
and village officials plan to raze the building and rid the area of illegal
aliens by constructing upscale housing rather than affordable housing.

"They're treating the illegals in this area like roaches," said
Cristina Ruiz Diaz of HOLA, a group of illegal aliens in Farmingdale. "You
squash them and they run away."

Village officials denied they want to cleanse Farmingdale of illegal aliens
and said they have issued numerous summonses to Tosini to make him repair the
building. Farmingdale is "one of the most integrated on Long Island and
everyone gets along," village Mayor George Graf said.

He noted that several private developers are interested in buying 150 Secatogue,
along with an apartment building next door also owned by Tosini and several
nearby houses and businesses.

Local officials have floated a "Secatogue Avenue Redevelopment Plan"
for the six-acre area for several years. This plan would bring much needed property
taxes to the village. The county and village are overwhelmed by the influx of
illegal aliens and there children who attend local schools but who's parents
do not pay any school taxes, most of the school aged children are also on Medicaid.

In October and December, tenants at 150 Secatogue were evacuated from the
building twice in the middle of the night because of a fire and a leaking pipe.
Yesterday, tenants described problems that went beyond that.

Jose Castro, 36, an illegal alien , said water ran constantly out of his
bathroom faucet for two years. The landlord finally fixed it this week.

CNN.com - Unable to produce visa, teen is jailed - Jan 3, 2006